Star Wars: The Covenant
by Tkman0
Summary: 2500 years before the Rise of Darth Vader, the Old Republic is faced with a new threat. But this new foe has never come into contact with beings from the rest of the galaxy, and when these two forces meet, a war on unimaginable scales erupt.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

Approximately 2500 years before the rise of Darth Vader

UNSC military calendar, 2530

The Covenant 9th age of reclamation

Time and space fluctuated and bent until a single bright hole in the fabric of the universe became clearly visible. A single Covenant scout ship, christened an Unknown Truth, emerged from Slipspace above a small, striking green planet.

Clad in gold power armour the veteran Sangheili Ship master, Salleema 'Zunamee gazed through his ship's luminary to examine the world below. As the planet turned on its axis, he noticed several small groupings of familiar glyphs pocketing the planet's surface. Salleema regarded the glyphs with an intensely personal distaste.

Salleema's first mate Kalleem 'Lanuntee turned from his workstation to regard his shipmaster. His red armour shining even in the dim, purple light emitted throughout the Covenant ship.

"Humans" the younger Sangheili spat, referring to the glyphs, "does their infestation know no bounds?" he rhetorically asked.

"Easy young one" Salleema soothed, "These heretics will perish in due time. Just like the others, they will pay for their crimes."

For centuries, the Covenant luminaries had been used to detect ancient forerunner artefacts. Being based on Forerunner technology themselves, it only made sense that Forerunner technology be used to find Forerunner technology. The luminaries did so by detecting individual Forerunner glyphs discerning one piece of technology from another. But several years ago a luminary aboard a Kig-Yar scouting ship discovered a new glyph on a small world just outside Covenant space. This new glyph symbolized reclamation. Throughout the whole history of the Covenant this glyph had never found before. Such a glyph was legend.

The treasure trove of holy artefacts they hoped to recover ended up being concealed by a race of aliens which called themselves "Humanity." These aliens refused hand over their hidden Forerunner technology, provoking the Covenant to try and take the holy relics by force. Once this happened the humans started destroying the relics they possessed.

The Covenant waged war against the more primitive humans to quell their heresy and cease their destruction of the ancient technology. It was later realized that these creatures were descendants of the Forerunners who were left behind at the time of the Great Journey due to their unworthiness. The Covenant saw that their heretical beliefs was what caused them to be left behind and knew their race needed to be cleansed from the galaxy.

The worlds they were originally found on were quickly glassed from orbit. But it wasn't long after the destruction of these first few worlds that the Covenant discovered that the humans had spread to even more worlds.

In these first five years, over a hundred of their planets had been found and cleansed, a satisfying number considering how many of the insects tried to fight back against the Covenant onslaught.

So far it seemed the humans had spread themselves throughout one sector of the Galaxy, but not long ago the Hierarchs passed the order that a fleet of Covenant scout ships should spread out and search for evidence of human presences in uncommon areas of the galaxy. That was the mission of the Unknown Truth, to scout unknown territories for human occupations.

So far their scouting missions had proven unsuccessful. But it seemed the gods favoured Salleema and his crew. This planet was the first discovered outside the known territories harbouring a human infestation. This new revelation suddenly opened up new possibilities that the humans might be much more wide spread than what was first considered.

Kalleem glared at his superior "what is our course of action ship master?" he asked with a bow of his domed head.

"Contact High Charity" Salleema said casually, his mandibles clicking. He drew his gaze back to the luminary to regard the small planet once more. "The Hierarchs will want to be notified immediately of this. These heretics can't escape us, no matter where they go we will follow, we will hunt them to the ends of the universe if need be. Their heresy will not go unpunished."

The bridge roared with anticipation. Salleema raised his hand for silence and the crewmen returned to their workstations, preparing for a battle that loomed ever closer.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: An odd peace

"Another seven years" master Darryn Cath stated wearily, his wrinkled hand massaging his right temple. "Another seven long, pointless years. And how does it end? With another truce, that's how." Master Cath's irritation was very pronounced, with Coruscant's setting sun outside the council chamber casting deep shadows across his aged face.

"Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Revan. It will never end, will it?" Cath gave a long sigh and looked out at the golden sun, as if expecting an answer. "Only once before have the Jedi and Sith ever made an attempt at peace. But all it brought was a war far worse than any other."

Around the council chamber, fellow Jedi listened to Cath, captivated by his words of unfortunate truth. "And even after last time, the Republic doesn't understand that the Sith can't be reasoned with. It's all about power to them, and it always will be. No peace between the Jedi or Sith could ever change that"

For years the Sith threat had laid dormant yet always a threat, ever since the Great Galactic war almost a milenia earlier. Ever since the fall of the Sith Empire, the surviving Sith Lords scattered themselves across the galaxy in an attempt to hide from the Jedi and the Republic.

When the Sith finally felt they had the power to do so, they returned once more. But it wasn't composed of the massive armies they had commanded nearly a thousand years earlier. It was just the Sith. No non force users amongst the ranks. Just the Sith Lords, Sorcerers and Marauders, each one just as deadly as the last.

When the Sith Guerrilla war started, their attacks were more vile and sinister than anything they had ever attempted before. They had resorted to guerrilla warfare, attacking anything of importance to the Republic in an attempt to destabilize it and offer a weak spot for the Sith to exploit. Luckily for the Republic, the Sith never found any such weakness. Never the less, with their small forces, it made it harder to find and bring these Sith to justice. But the Jedi were determined to stop this threat and after seven bloody years, they finally did.

Master Cath eventually gave notice to the two Jedi standing patiently in the center of the council chamber.

Keelu Rhane and her nineteen year old apprentice Jason Kiel were practically famous among the Jedi for their bravery and courage during the Sith Guerrilla war. Keelu watched the Jedi master with private anticipation as she waited for their briefing to officially begin. Her green lekku twitching slightly as they rested across her strong shoulders. Jason on the other hand, was in his own world full of sadness and regret.

From a single glance, you could tell Jason had seen far more in life than most boys his age. It was his eyes. Eyes that should have belonged to an old man like Cath, instead belonged to Jason. Eyes which gave the impression of not wanting to remember memories past, and just wishing to forget. The memories locked away in his mind were more inflicting than the scars he accumulated over the past several years. A once happy, eager padawan learner had become a sad, over-experienced Jedi almost over night.

Unlike her apprentice, Keelu had come to terms with what she had seen in the war and had learned to live with it. Over the seven years of war, Keelu had changed very little. Unlike most Twi'lek, She rarely showed any signs of emotion, and only did so on rare occasions.

"This truce is the reason why you are both here" Cath continued, "The Republic has demanded that four representatives from either side meet on a neutral world to negotiate the terms of the truce."

Jason listened to Cath, but his mind was once again getting the better of him. Flashes of memories crossed his mind`s eye, forcing his attention away from the Jedi master. The memory flashes were frequent and always the same. Each one was always more painful than the last, and they just kept coming. He closed his eyes at the pain of them.

Cath continued, knowing there was little he could do for the young man. "The planet of choice is an outer rim agriculture world called Vespae, which supplies fresh goods to planets such as Cato Nemoidia and Alderan. Its population is a little over 200 million and is mainly made up of humanoids. The surface is mostly thick forest and is largely unexplored." at last Jason opened his eyes as the memories appearing in his mind subdued.

Cath referred to his data pad to verify some of the information. "Republic scouts discovered an old monastery on top of the planet's largest mountain, we figure it will be secluded enough for the treaty to take place without drawing much attention. There is a small town at the base of the mountain, so they will know of your arrival but they promise not to interfere."

"What will happen to Abian IV? Will the Sith pay for what they did there?" Jason asked. Abian IV was the planet where the war officially took place and ended. In the last year of the war, the Sith discovered that the planet contained hundreds of relics from the old Sith empire. It was at that point that the Sith made an attempt to seize the world and it's artefacts.

Originally, Abian IV was a prosperous colony world free of pollution or war. Somehow the ancient Sith Empire had masked the dark presence of their relics and hid them across and under the planet surface, for what purpose the Jedi could only guess.

When the Sith invaded the planet several months earlier, the Republic responded with an enormous fleet which engaged the Sith on the planet surface and in space. The battle lasted three weeks before the Sith retreated off world, their forces reduced to half of their original strength. The Republic chased the Sith from system to system, never letting them stop long enough to reorganize and attempt to retaliate. Once they reached their home world of Korriban, the Sith realized they had no where left to run and reluctantly surrendered.

Abian IV had been eternally scarred and would never return to the way it was. The once hidden Sith artefacts had released their powers after they were rediscovered, further transforming the planet into a husk of it's former self. At the end of the war, the planet was left almost uninhabitable. A reminder to show the galaxy of how destructive and evil the Sith truly were.

"Jason there is only so much we can ask from the Sith" Cath cupped his face in his hands, giving further sign to his exhaustion. "I know that they pretty well destroyed Abian IV, but what do you want us to do, make them bring life back to a dead planet?" Jason was silent. He wanted justice. Justice for his sister who perished on the snow world of Illum, for the victims on Abian IV, and for the innocent people of the Republic and the rest of the galaxy. It wasn't right to let the Sith walk free without some kind of retribution.

Cath let out a tired sigh, "Jason, we are Jedi. It's not in our nature to want revenge. It's what leads to the dark side, you know this." Jason looked out the window at the setting sun, avoiding the master's piercing gaze "I'm sorry Jason, but there is nothing any of us can do to change what has happened" Jason tore his eyes away from the sun and looked at the Jedi master Directly in the eyes.

"I know master Cath, forgive me." Cath gave Jason a sad smile.

"There is nothing to apologise for Jason. The Sith did horrific things during the war, and it's only natural to want to make them pay for their crimes. What matters is that we accept what happened, learn from it and try to move on. So, if you'd please, let us return to the matter at hand."

Jason nodded stiffly.

Master Cath looked to the right of himself where Master Jarik Covell sat, his small white horns shining like ivory in the sunlight. The old Zabrak was legend amongst the soldiers of the Republic. His military strategies almost never failed to amaze.

"You will be traveling with Colonel Tana Medea from the Grand Army and her college, Captain Keth Oroli." the Zabrak said "They, along with yourselves, will be the ones signing the treaty on behalf of the Republic. If all goes well the Sith will sign the treaty, and we can enter a new era of peace. Well, the closest as we can get to peace with the Sith living on the Republic`s doorstep."

"What if the Sith refuse to sign the treaty?" Keelu asked.  
Master Nuk Zaa, a female Rodian sitting on Darryn's left, glared at the Keelu with large, misty eyes. "The Republic feels that if the Sith do not cooperate then they will have no choice but to attack the Sith on Korriban to put an end to them for good. If it comes to this, the Jedi will not get involved. This is the Republic's decision, not ours, and we refuse to take part in genocide."

Keelu nodded, "we will do what we can masters, may the force be with you"

"And with you" said Cath. The two Jedi began to exit the chamber until a voice called out to them.

"Jason?" the young Jedi turned to look at master Cath, "Be mindful of your emotions young one. The dark side will evidently be present. Don't give it a chance to corrupt you."

Jason bowed to master Cath once more, "thank you master, I will do well to remember"

At that note, Jason turned on his heel and left the bright council chamber for the dimly lit hallway of the centre spire. As the two Jedi walked in silence toward the turbo lift, Jason felt something tugging at him. It wasn't something physical, it was the force. Over the years he had learned to take more notice of warnings in the force, and although this wasn't an obvious sign of danger. The force was telling him that something was going to happen in the near future, and whatever it was, it was important.

"Master, something doesn't feel right"  
"I know, I feel it too. The force remains unbalanced as long as the Sith exist. But it doesn't feel like it has anything to do with Sith, does it?"

"No, I don't think so. Impressions from the Sith are usually more focused and defined, aren't they? Stang, I don't even know what the force is telling me. It's too vague and weak to make sense of. Why? are you having any luck understanding it?"

"No. But that doesn't mean we should regard it as unimportant. If it wasn't, then I doubt we would have felt anything"

"Yes master"

It took several Minutes but eventually the turbo lift arrived and the two Jedi stepped inside. Much of Jason and Keelu's time spent together was usually in silence. At first it had felt kind of eerie to Jason, but after a while it almost became comforting in a way.

"Is there anything you want to get before we leave?" Keelu asked her apprentice. Jason shook his head. There was nothing in his room that he wanted to bring with him; each item just brought back more painful memories of his sister's death.  
The turbo lift slid past the dormitory level and rumbled to a stop at the temple's main hangar bay .Jason and Keelu stepped out of their lift, the smell of engine oil and grease wafting through the air. In front of the lift stood a silver S-7 protocol droid, awaiting their arrival with a data pad gripped in its metallic hand.

"Master Keelu?" it asked in its monotone voice.

"That's me" she said as they stepped closer.  
Jason marvelled at the rows of different ships, wondering which one they would be taking. Back when he was a youngling, he loved technology, especially exotic star ships. Even after all these years, he tried to read holo books on new star ships in his spare time, but thanks to the war, he rarely had any time at all, let alone the desire for indulgences.  
"The colonel is waiting for you in bay 87, here are the ship launch codes. It would also do well to look after the ship, after all you Jedi are notorious for destroying star ships." The droid handed over the data pad and walked off, not even waiting for the Jedi to say anything else..  
"Talk about rude" Jason muttered.  
"It's just a droid, it's just doing what it's programmed to do," said Keelu as they started walking down the rows of ships.  
"Yeah well, they could have had at least programmed it to be a little more polite. Uh, master are you sure this the right ship?" Jason and his master had just reached bay 87, but instead of the sleek Republic shuttle Jason had been picturing, there was a small, dumpy cargo ship that looked like it could barely stand on its landing struts, let alone fly.

The ship was awkward looking, with it's oversized main engine and a large triangular cockpit. The two smaller engines on either side of the body looked ridiculous, and the body seemed almost bloated.  
A very pretty, dark haired woman in a filthy republic uniform came walking down the landing ramp, wiping engine grease off her hands as she went. She smiled at the Jedi as they bowed in greeting. "Master Keelu, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard much about you" she said lightly. Keelu returned her smile.

"Likewise colonel, may I introduce my Padawan Jason Kiel."  
Jason smiled at colonel Medea and shook her slightly dirty hand. This woman was not what he pictured of a Republic officer. During the war he and his master had very little contact with any members of the Grand Army, mainly because most of their missions involved espionage and tracking Sith across numerous worlds in the outer and mid rim.  
"I thought this mission is important, what's with the cargo ship?" Jason blurted. His master glared at him disapprovingly, but the colonel's smile just grew even bigger.

"Don't worry" she reassured with a wave of her greasy hand "it's made to look this way. Those Republic scientists had been designing space craft disguised as cargo ships to try and infiltrate Sith outposts back near the end of the war. This was the original prototype of that program, it's got more hidden weapons than you could think of, and several you probably haven't heard of either"  
Jason still wasn't convinced, Colonel Medea must have notice this, because the next thing he knew, Jason was being dragged toward the ship by the colonel as if she were a six year old showing her parents something of interest.

"Honestly, it's got a great interior, real cozy. The engines are top of the line, the shields too. Trust me; there isn't anything to be afraid of." the colonel let go of Jason and stood beside the boarding ramp, waiting for him to embark. Jason turned to look at Keelu, who just gave him an unsure shrug.

Jason stepped into the ship and was surprised to see it bore no resemblance to the exterior design.

Oddly, this was the most luxurious ship Jason had ever been on. The floors were covered in a soft red fabric with small diamond shaped patterns etched into them. The beige walls were lined with small crimson glow lamps, which cast soft shadows onto the walls and ceiling.

"This ship was designed for infiltrating the Sith?" he asked sceptically.  
The Colonel actually giggled. "Yeah, originally of course. But the interior was re-furbished once the war was over. The Chancellor actually wanted to use it as his own private shuttle to get from place to place without drawing any attention. But before the weapons were removed the Chancellor decided to give it to the Jedi as a gift."

Jason continued to marvel the beautiful ship interior when a man about the same size of Jason came walking out of the nearby refresher. He was well built and had rugged good looks that could have betrayed him as an outer rim smuggler. The man was quite surprised to see the three of them standing there.

"This is Captain Keth Oroli," explained Tana "he's a friend and college of mine who will be accompanying us on our mission."  
The Captain shook each of their hands and then rounded on the Colonel. "Tana, what's with all the grease?" he demanded. Jason had never heard a lower level officer say anything like this to a superior before.

Then again, he hadn't met very many officers in his military career anyway.

She just gave the captain a wide, beautiful smile, "just fine tuning the engine, who knows what kind of bugs the designers could have overlooked. But don't worry, I made sure it's working fine"

"Oh, I'm not worried about the engine" said Oroli, "I'm just worried about showing up in front of the Sith diplomats with my superior officer covered in grease."  
"I'll clean after we make our jump, besides its going to take a couple days to get there anyway." the colonel turned to Keelu. "Do you have the launch codes master Keelu? That idiot droid said it was only authorized to give them to you and no one else," she mocked.

Keelu reached inside her belt and withdrew the data pad and handed it Tana. "Thank you, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to prep us for launch. Keth why don't you show them to their rooms?"

Keth nodded and Tana walked off in the direction of the cockpit, this left Keth alone with the two Jedi. "Soo..." the captain said uncomfortably, "If you'll just follow me then I'll show you to your rooms I guess. Like Tana said we're going to be in hyperspace for a few days so we should probably settle in."  
Jason had several questions for Keth about his relations with Tana, but he decided this might not be the best of times. Keth turned around and headed down the tiny hall toward the rear; he stopped in front of one of the doors and turned to look at the Jedi.  
"I hope this one is to your liking master Keelu, it was originally made for the Chancellor after all" he opened the door to show the plush interior, which wasn't much different than the rest of the ship.  
"Thank you captain, but this is unnecessary, you or the colonel could have..."  
Keth cut her off, "no, no, no, master Keelu, we already have our rooms, but thank you for your generosity." Keelu gave Jason and the captain another small smile then retreated inside her suite.  
Keth turned to face Jason. "It's Jason right? Your room is over here." he led Jason to a room almost directly across the hall from his master. He opened it up to show it was just as lavish as the first.

"Thank you captain," Jason said with a bow.

"Any time my boy," Keth replied "hey, when you're ready you can meet us in the cockpit for take off."  
"Sounds great, thank you again captain" he smiled at Keth and turned to enter his room, but the captain held him back. "Oh and by the way, call me Keth. I kind of hate it when people call me captain; it feels a little too formal."  
"Sure thing" said Jason. Keth grinned then left him outside his room. Since Jason had very few personal belongings to bring, he decided to follow Keth instead of checking out his new room.

Jason could feel the small ship's engines power up as he reached the bridge. He was almost overwhelmed with the lights and sounds that filled it. It vaguely reminded him of a Couriscanti night club he had visited in his youth.  
Tana turned in the pilot's seat examine Jason, "still not impressed?" she asked smugly. Jason raised his hands in submission, "alright, I give, this ship is incredible."  
"Well," she said. "If this was enough to impress you, just you wait until she gets in the air" she turned her back to him to resume the lift off procedures.

"Speaking of her, what's her name?" Jason wondered aloud. Keth shrugged as he strapped himself into the co-pilot seat.

"You can check the ship registry if you want" he said, "it should be in that terminal beside you"  
Jason turned to his left and walked over to the small terminal Keth was referring to. He flipped through the ship's data files until he found what he was looking for. Jason had to squint his eyes to read the tiny writing.

Ship registry no. 1585-7064  
"Saurora"

"The Saurora" said Jason as he shut down the terminal.

"Hmm, nice name." Keth commented. "Wouldn't say it suites the look of the ship though" Jason gave a little laugh. Keelu walked into the cockpit, absent mindedly fiddling with her lekku.

"Are we good to go colonel?"

Tana nodded, "we're just waiting for approval for take off. I'd recommend you two should strap in, it shouldn't take long."

As the two Jedi found their seats a deep voice crackled over the comm. channel.

"Saurora, this is Couruscanti flight control, sector 169 B. Please verify your destination and departure point" Jason sat in the navigation chair behind Keth, he fumbled with the straps as Tana spoke into her headset.

"Destination; planet Vespae of the Abiz system, departure point is at co-ordinates 463-174-369." the comm. line went silent for a moment.

"Saurora you are cleared for take off. Have a nice flight." The line was cut and Tana took hold of the controls.

Jason just finished buckling in when he felt the ship rise off the hangar floor. He glanced out the window in time to see the ship blast away from the hangar and into the crowded skies of the galactic capital. As the _Saurora _rose into the sky, any details on the planet's surface melded together into their surroundings, becoming an ugly generic grey.

The Couruscanti atmosphere suddenly disappeared and the black of space enveloped them. Once the ship reached the departure point just beyond one of Coruscant's moons, Tana initiated the hyperdrive. Jason watched in amusement as the surrounding stars raced towards them until they became blurred and nothing but bright hyperspace became visible.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Enemies from the Unknown

"They haven't taken any notice to your presence?" asked the Prophet of Truth, his hologram wavering in front of Salleema, who stood stiff as a board in the center of the comm. room.

"In a way, yes hierarch, but it is odd. They have made several attempts at contacting us, asking who we are and why we are here." The old San'Shyuum sat up straighter with a puzzled look on his face.

"They don't know about us?" he asked sceptically.

Salleema shook his head, "no hierarch, it seems not."

"hmm, You are right commander, this is odd." the Prophet continued, "Whoever these humans are, they seem cut off from the rest of their race." the Prophet reached up with a spindly hand and absent mindedly stroked his beard, thinking hard.

"What should our course of action be Hierarch?" Salleema spoke slowly.

"Exterminate them" he said with a wave of his hand. "Heretics remain heretics, they will destroy any relics they have the moment they discover our intentions. Send your troops onto the planet surface first and eliminate them one by one, you can consider it a reward for your discovery." Salleema smiled gleefully.

"We will send the Prophet of Regret's own personal fleet to burn the planet afterward." concluded the Prophet of truth. Salleema knew his crew would enjoy this privilege, they rarely saw any action at all. This would be a good opportunity for them to prove themselves honourable warriors among the Covenant.

"Thank you Hierarch. We will not disappoint you." Salleema bowed his head. The Prophet of Truth's hologram flickered then disappeared, putting an end to the conversation. Salleema silently exited the comm. room and advanced down the violet hallway in the direction of the bridge. Preparing himself for a battle he knew he had waited his whole life for.

Spending two days stuck on the Saurora gave Jason a chance to get to know their new companions fairly well. The most intriguing piece of information he gathered about Tana and Keth was that they were actually step-siblings, Tana's dad had married Keth's mom back when they were teenagers.

"Why didn't Keth change his last name after the marriage?" he had asked Tana.

"I guess he just didn't like the idea of having to change the last name he's lived with since birth," she told him. "That and he's as stubborn as a Bantha." Jason had a good laugh at that.

The awkward shyness Jason had experienced around the Republic officers when they first started their journey now became almost non-existent. Even his master cracked a smile more often than not when a joke was made. Overall it felt more like a much needed vacation than an important mission.

On the final day of non stop travel the crew of the Saurora gathered in the cockpit, having almost reached their destination. Jason could feel the tension rise as the distance between the Saurora and Vespae slowly decreased. A small alarm sounded, indicating the Saurora was about to exit hyperspace.

With a shudder, colourful hyperspace disappeared and the surrounding stars came back into focus. Jason looked out of the forward viewport to examine their destination. But it wasn't the planet that drew his gaze.

Slowly orbiting the planet was a sleek, almost organic looking ship about the size of a light Republic cruiser. Its shiny, purplish armour reflected light from the nearby star in weird ways, giving it a sinister look.

To Jason it looked more like a space bound Firaxan shark than a star ship with engines and a crew.

"What in the force is that?" Tana exclaimed, stating what was on everyone's mind. Jason looked at his master; even she had her mouth wide open in awe and surprise.

"That's definitely not Sith," Keth assured them.

"How can you be sure?" Jason asked, still taking in the sight of the ship.

"Sith Star Destroyers usually focus on firepower and bulk when it comes to combat, not to mention they have a triangular look to them." he explained, "that ship looks like it's made for speed and manoeuvrability. So it's probably not Sith."

"Well it's definitely not Republican," said Tana undoubtedly.

"Well if is not Sith and it's not Republican than who's is it?" Keelu wondered curiously. From this distance, Jason could sense the force energies emanating from the planet surface, but these energies had a way of masking the presence of the alien ship. Jason shut his eyes and let the force flow through him. In this concentrated state, Jason was able to sense every living creature on the planet's surface and after several seconds of concentration, the alien ship as well.

Anger and determination. These were the most prominent feelings radiating from the inhabitants of the ship. But Jason confirmed what Keth had said about it not being the Sith.

The Sith harnessed these same emotions in order to command the dark side of the force in horrible ways. But these aliens were not Sith, he doubted they weren't even force sensitive. Their emotions were unfocused and uncontrolled. Even so, such emotions were always dangerous, even coming from a being not sensitive in the force.

As Jason continued to eavesdrop on the aliens' swirling emotions, he felt a flicker of the dark side. He opened his eyes and looked out the view port, away from the alien ship and into the black of space. His master beside him was doing the same. "The Sith diplomats," Keelu announced "they're here."

* * *

Once back on the bridge, Salleema began their preparations for the invasion. He had all six of their phantom drop ships, saving one for himself and higher ranking officers, loaded with the majority of the troops his ship had at its disposal.

"Hold this orbit until we return." Salleema said to a distressed Kalleem. "Relay any important communication signals to my mobile receiver."

"Yes shipmaster." The young Sangheili said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Salleema had been forced to select several members of his crew to stay behind in order to watch over the ship. After months of searching for human inhabited worlds with no success, it made sense the whole crew would want to partake in this rare opportunity. But Salleema knew that leaving the _Unknown Truth_ unguarded would have been an unwise decision. So he was forced to select several crew members to stay behind and watch over the ship, Kalleem was one of those selected individuals.

Salleema also knew it was the way of the Sangheili to prove their honour in battle, and he was depriving Kalleem of that. Salleema stepped toward Kalleem and rested a three fingered hand on his armour plated shoulder.

"Kalleem, I regret having to choose to leave you behind," Salleema said softly "but I will not change my decision, no matter how our conditions may change."

Kalleem glared at the Ship master, his face flushed with anger.

"Do you wish to strip me of my honour?" he asked defiantly, "do you despise me this much to keep me from what I know I rightfully deserve?" Kalleem was yelling now and began attracting the attention of the surrounding bridge crew.

"You are too young and impatient Kalleem," Salleema explained, keeping his voice light and soft, "But you are also one of the most trustworthy of my crew. I would rather entrust you with the responsibility of my ship than send you to the surface to fight these heretics where they are at their best."

Salleema saw Kalleem relax a little, his breathing began to slow and his hands he had been clenching slacked. Salleema rarely praised his pupil, but what he said was true, he needed Kalleem here more than on the surface with him.

Kalleem glared at the floor as he listened to the shipmaster speak.

"These heretics will no doubt send reinforcements the moment we land. With me on the surface I needed to choose someone responsible enough to look after my ship and have the ability to combat the humans in space. I do not despise you Kalleem, I respect you. When ever I'm absent from my ship from now on or in the case I do not return from a mission, I give you full control over my ship and the title of ship master."

Kalleem's snakelike head flicked up in surprise and stared at Salleema in shock.

"Sh...Ship Master?" he stuttered.

"In the case of my absence or death." Salleema confirmed.

"I am honoured" Kalleem said with a bow of his head.

"Not yet" Salleema said with a smirk. Kalleem raised his head with a look of determination in his black eyes and a small smile on his mandibles

"Ship master!" cried a low level officer, "we've detected two small craft on approach to the planet. They're not Covenant." Salleema stalked over to the Sangheili's console with Kalleem close at his heels.

Salleema watched over the officer's shoulder as two separate video recorders tracked the small ships. Salleema's mind was racing. No ship that small could survive a trip through slip space, he thought, it would have torn them apart.

Slip space was essentially a universe opposite to theirs; only if one was to imagine the universe as a flat piece of paper then they would have to imagine Slip space as the same piece of paper only crumpled up into a ball. Since Slip space was crumpled up like this, it meant ships could traverse large distances in normal space by opening a hole in the universe and entering the folded up alternate universe.

Slip space was filled with currents and eddies because of its irregularities; meaning only large ships could make its way through without getting swept up and disappearing forever. Kalleem seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"The only ships I've ever seen that size are troop carriers. But even they can't enter slip space, it would destroy them. Human or Covenant." he said to Salleema's back.

The Ship master continued to watch the ships, slightly fascinated by their different designs. They didn't look anything like what the humans used for space travel; the same went for the Covenant. One of the ships was shiny and black, with sharp edges and a deadly look which almost allowed it to blend into the background of space. The engines emitted a navy blue glow, pushing the ship forward at a remarkable speed; it looked like it was made for war, quite the opposite with the other.

The other looked like several scraps of metal were melded together to form a ship for an unknown purpose. The engines were a bright white and the whole thing shook as it flew, making it look like an antique compared to the other.

Both ships headed toward the planet, giving no indication of the _Unknown truth_ which sat almost directly in their line of sight.

"Track them" Salleema ordered.

He looked away from the monitor and brought his gaze upon the ship's luminary with Kalleem beside him.

Symbols of reclamation were there, several on each ship. Not enough to defend against a Covenant invasion, which brought Salleema to the conclusion that these ships were here for something other than combat."

"Should we destroy them ship master?" Kalleem asked eagerly.

"In time brother." he whispered. Salleema turned to leave, giving his last orders as he advanced toward the door, "continue to track those ships, I want their landing co-ordinates transferred to the Phantoms by the time I reach the hangar."

There was several answers of "yes ship master" from the crew, he stopped at the door and turned to take one last look at his future successor.

"May the gods guide you to victory Ship master!" Kalleem cried out. The rest of the crew cheered in agreement. Salleema smiled and nodded, he turned and left the bridge, knowing his beloved ship was in the best of hands.

* * *

On the planet surface, Helen Terrek stood holding her Macro-binoculars tight against her eyes as she gazed into the sky. Her binoculars had been a gift to her from her father, who had traveled to Couriscant several years ago on a business trip involving some kind of prototype harvester.

Helen hated it here on Vespae; she was always fantasizing about flying through space, traveling to exotic planets and meeting all kinds of people.

The idea of staying on Vespae and marrying some dumb farmer boy didn't sit well with her. It was natural for people on her planet to grow up working on their parent's farms, go to school for a few years, get married and then have a farm of their own. It seemed like a dull life, and for Helen, so far it had been.

The Macro-binoculars were a special treasure of hers, every night she uses them to gaze at the stars and planets. She loved the idea of leaving Vespae, but she knew it would never be a reality, until the day the alien ship arrived in orbit around the planet.

Less than a week ago Helen had been star gazing as usual, but as she went to turn in for the night a bright flash of light caught her eye.

She rarely saw any bright meteors, and this one looked like a treat. But as she watched through her binoculars, she quickly realised it wasn't moving like a usual meteor, it wasn't moving at all. What she saw next frightened and amazed her.

A purple alien ship sped from the light. At first she had no idea what to believe. _Ships don't emerge from hyperspace in a flash of white light_, she reasoned to herself, _but then again, there might be other alien races that could have discovered alternate ways of space travel._

Memorable events rarely happened on Vespae, so over the next few days she anxiously awaited for any news on the alien ship. But strangely, none came. She continued to view the alien ship over the next few days through her binoculars. Taking notes on its orbital speed, distances and direction using her macro binoculars' different instruments.

When she had enough data, she was able to calculate the size of the ship. It was a little more than one kilometre in length and half of a kilometre in width at the middle. From her school textbooks, she learned that this was almost the equivalent to some republican cruisers.

She was obsessed, hooked on something that didn't deserve her attention. But she couldn't help it. If she didn't track the ship, then who would? And if something happened, someone had to warn people of it. These aliens could pose a threat to her and her people, and although she hated the planet, she also had a connection to it, and there was no way she would just stand by and watch an alien race decimate it. She would watch as a sentry, for as long as it took, until the aliens either left or made a move against her home world.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Surprises

The _Saurora _shook and rumbled as it made its way through the blue Vespian atmosphere. Eventually the shaking stopped and Jason relaxed a little. Even though he loved ships and cool technologies, Jason always found planetary entries to be a little nerve racking.

Their ship cruised over large canopies of forest and clearly visible ahead; was a small town at the base of a large mountain. Directly above the town stood a large cliff with a beautiful waterfall rolling over it, the water landing in a small garden just outside of town, throwing a light mist into the air. Surrounding the village was dozens of farms lining the rivers that originated from the waterfall.

Unlike most worlds which usually had an even balance between light and dark sides of the force, this world was oddly much more affinitive in the light side. These overwhelming light side force energies surging from the planet's life flowed through Jason like water, clearing his mind of all distractions and putting him into a relatively calm state. For the first time in a long time, Jason felt his soul was at peace.

He turned around in his seat and smiled at his master. Keelu too had a shadow of a smile on her face, a result of the powerful force energies pulsing from the life below them.

She looked at her apprentice, "do not let the force distract you from your duty Jason," she advised, the small smile gone from her green lips; "we could very well be walking into a trap, from either those aliens or the Sith, and you must be alert at all times. Do you understand?"

Jason rubbed his temples to clear his head, "yes master."

They both turned away to resume their examination of the planet below them. The _Saurora _had just passed over the town and neared the mountain when his ears began to pop, suggesting a change in altitude.

Jason decided to check back in with the alien ship, hoping to find a clue to their plans in this system. He shut his eyes and focused. He ignored the buzzing noise of the world around him and found his target in orbit around the green world. It felt the same as before, only this time there was more movement, more action. The aliens were doing something, something productive. Jason had a nagging feeling, which had nothing to do with the force. It told him whatever was going on wasn't anything good.

The nose of the _Saurora _dipped up slightly so they were traveling parallel to the mountain side. The ship eventually evened out and an old monastery filled the forward view screen, a blinding snow storm battering the ancient stones that held it up.

Tana brought the _Saurora _into a hover in front of the monastery, and with great skill she set the clumpy looking ship down into the snow without the slightest jolt. Jason let out a tired breath and began unbuckling his safety stapes.

Once ready, the four of them left the warm interior of the ship and emerged onto the cold, windy mountain peak. "Master Keelu!" Tana called over the howling wind, "you two should probably go inside, Keth and I will wait for the Sith diplomats!"

Keelu nodded her approval and stalked off in the direction of the monastery with Jason at her side. Slowly but surly, the two Jedi pushed through the mountain snowstorm and into the shelter of the stone monastery.

They didn't dare move any deeper into the monastery, fearing for their new friends wouldn't be able to defend themselves if things with the Sith went awry. From inside the doorway Jason examined his new surroundings.

All of the stones which made up the old building bore faded graceful swirls and geometric shapes. Using the force to heighten his senses he learned it was repetitive, it was some kind of ancient language. But not any kind that was familiar to Jason.

As a youngling, Jason was taught about some of the earliest events in recorded galactic history, which involved the Rakatan Empire, and the origins of the Jedi and Sith. He even learned some of the basic language spoken by these ancient people, so the Jedi could decipher some of their knowledge filled writings they might happen to stumble across on their missions.

But these writings were definitely not Rakatan, or ancient Jedi or Sith. And they were older, much older. He had heard stories of ancient beings with immense power, such as the ability to create worlds or even entire star systems. But of course they were just superstitions, or at least as far as Jason knew they were.

A flicker in the force snatched his attention away from the stones, directing his head to the sky. His curiosity over the old inscriptions faded away as six dim landing lights sliced through the blinding snow.

Keelu and Jason left their cover and made their way back into the storm. With his cloak wrapped tightly around him, Jason shuffled toward the black, deadly looking ship.

As he came to a stop in front of the ship, anger flooded through him. These people killed his Jedi brothers and sisters, and at the moment Jason didn't want anything more than to walk aboard the ship and cut down every Sith in his path. He stood there pondering the idea, but slowly the anger disappeared only to be replaced with an intense self disgust and embarrassment.

Anger lead to the dark side, every Jedi knew that, from the youngest to the oldest. Jason was sure his master had sensed his slip in emotional concentration, but she chose to keep silent. He knew he would have to keep his emotions in check throughout the treaty signing; it wouldn't benefit the Republic if he suddenly attacked the people they were trying to make peace with.

The boarding ramp slid down to reveal an interior that could have rivalled the Saurora. Four black robed beings stepped down the ramp, the wind buffeting their black cloaks as they stepped onto the mountain. "Let's get this over with." one of the Sith lords said through gritted teeth.

* * *

Cris gave a fierce yawn and leaned back in his chair. "I don't get why your getting all worked up over that dumb cruiser" he said while staring out of the cafe window. Helen just stared at her drink, thinking lightly.

Who was inside that ship? She kept asking herself, and why are they here? Her brother decided to drop the topic, he was getting tired about their frequent debates about the ship's mysterious appearance, and it seemed Helen felt the same way. The two siblings paid their bill and stepped out into the warm midday sun.

They had just reached their land speeder outside the cafe when Helen heard her name being called. She turned slowly to see Celia, one of her school friends, waving at her from across the boulevard. Helen waved back and told her brother to wait a minute, he groaned in protest but she ignored him.

She moved quickly across the boulevard, hoping whatever her friend had to say wasn't too important.

"Hey" Helen greeted.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to do something this afternoon" she said.

Helen shifted uncomfortably. All she really wanted to do was watch that cruiser in orbit, but if her friend knew that she would probably think she was crazy.

"Umm, I was going to help Cris upgrade the speeder later," she lied.

"Really?" he friend asked sceptically. Helen nodded slowly, but Celia just shrugged. Helen's curiosity got the better of her.

"What were you planning on doing?"

Celia smiled, "we were going to go speeder bike racing with Charlie and Ziek. Charlie just installed a new Thruster pack in his air speeder and he wanted to show us, well, mainly you. You know how he's always trying to impress you."

Helen felt her cheeks flush and looked away. It was obvious to everyone that Charlie had a thing for Helen. Charlie was one of those guys every girl at school wished to be with, but not Helen. Sure he was good looking, athletic and the most popular guy at school, but to Helen he was just full of himself. He beat up younger kids for fun, he lacked any academic skills, and he was a jerk on a date. It only took one for Helen to figure this out.

"Sorry Celia, I can't, I promised my brother I'd help with the speeder. Besides, you know how bad he is at working with machines." her friend just shrugged again

"Oh well," she said sadly, "there's always next time right?"

Helen forced a smile, "sure" she said reluctantly, "Chris is going to get mad and drive off if I don't get back. I'll see you at school."

Celia gave a curt nod, "sure. I'll tell Charlie you said hi, ok?"

"Uh, yea, sure"

Helen would have protested against it but she needed to get back to Cris. She waved goodbye to her friend as she ran back across the boulevard to their parked land speeder.

Helen's little brother was reclining in the passenger seat with the music blaring. Helen slipped inside and turned down the volume on the radio.

"Hey!" he cried, "I was listening to that!"

Helen looked at her brother with an annoyed look on her face. "It's still playing, just listen to it quieter."

Cris slumped in his seat and stared out the window, sulking. Helen went to start the engine but a rumbling noise stopped her cold. She turned in her seat and stared into the sky, dreading what was coming.

She couldn't see the ship clearly from where she was, it was just a grey dot in the sky, slowly growing bigger. She quickly searched for her macro binoculars, which she found stuffed under a stack of data pads in the back seat.

Helen rolled down the window and lifted binoculars to her face, searching for the spot.

"Are we going or what?" Cris demanded.

"Shut up and give me a sec," his sister snapped.

Cris fell back into silence as Helen kept looking for the dot she saw only seconds before. When she found it, relief flooded through her. It wasn't the aliens, just one of the diplomats coming for the peace conference.

The ship looked pretty dumpy; Helen wondered why anyone in their right mind would drive something like that to a peace conference. Just as Helen was turning away, she spotted another ship in the sky. She had to increase the magnification in order to get a better look.

This one was black, sleek and shiny. It looked like it was made for war with its sharp angles and bladelike look. She figured that the second one belonged to the Sith and the first to the Republic. Before stuffing her macro binoculars away, she decided to check up on the alien cruiser.

She pointed the binoculars almost straight up and increased the magnification as high it would go so she could see through the bright atmosphere and into space. Hoping the ship hadn't orbited to the other side of the planet she started searching.

Her effort was rewarded when she spotted the purple alien ship against the background of space. It looked the same as always, if you excluded its constant changes in position. After several seconds she heard her brother complaining again.

She began to shut down the binoculars, but some movement on the ship caught her attention. What she guessed to be a hangar door on board the ship started to open. Helen held her breath as she watched in fascination and dread.

The door stopped moving and six purple dots shot out from the now open hangar. The dots grew bigger and bigger until she could get a better view of them. They looked like some kind of sea animal, with small bulbous heads and large bodies.

Helen could only guess to what these smaller ships were, but she only hoped she was wrong. Helen lowered her binoculars and turned to look at her brother, terror flooding her pretty face.

Cris's own face quickly changed from boredom to worry. "What's wrong? What did you see?" Helen didn't know how to answer. So she said the words that were filling her head.

"I think they're sending drop ships"

* * *

Salleema took in his surroundings with satisfaction. The crowded Phantom drop ship, drop ship alpha, was packed with the best fighters his crew had to offer. But even these fighters were unique amid the rest of the Covenant, for his crew carried prototype weapon systems which would fare much better than previous utilities

Among the dozen or so Sangheili warriors stood several Kig-Yar, a flightless avian race. These creatures were small compared to a Sangheili, but Salleema knew size wasn't much of a problem for them. Where they lacked in size and strength the made up for in their accuracy with a long distance rifle. They all carried either a plasma carbine or a beam rifle instead of the older needle or focus rifles. Salleema respected the Kig-Yar for this reason, and knew they would be crucial for their invasion as snipers and recon.

The other alien race standing in the troop bay was the Unggoy. Small, noisy, methane breathers that were commonly used as cannon fodder in battle. Just like now. The Prophets had been designing several new life support systems for the Unggoy, and it seems that they finally found a design that works.

Salleema had no idea what kind of defences the humans had on planet, but he did know that the Unggoy would charge them or else be accused of heresy, something no being amongst the Covenant wanted.

Crammed inside drop ship Theta were two pairs of aliens known by the Covenant as Mega-Lekgolo. These tanks with legs weren't even a single being. They were actually an assemblage of skinny orange worms collected inside their armour.

The large colonies of Lekgolo worms were in their own way intelligent, but only if it involved combat, destruction or eating. If not for their armour and weapons the Lekgolo would have come across as a bunch of harmless worms, but no thanks to the Covenant they had become fearsome opponents.

It was common for every Mega-Lekgolo in the Covenant to carry a huge triangular shield of pure metal on one arm, and a large fuel rod gun on the other. Each of these weapons were grafted into their armour itself, seeing as the monsters had no real "hands" to hold onto them otherwise.

Salleema knew they were ready, with forces like these it would have taken several of the human "Demons" to stop their invasion forces. Salleema had never fought any of the fabled Demons, but he knew that any being who ever had, had died brutally.

The Covenant knew the Demons were human, but they were different. They were the size of a young Sangheili but they were faster, stronger and harder to kill than most Sangheili are in their prime. This combined with the technology of their armour turns them into force to reckon with.

The humans call them by the name "Spartan," but to the Covenant this word had no meaning, it was for that and several other reasons that the Covenant calls them Demons.

They were a true force to be reckoned with. This was why Salleema had to choose their next step carefully. If the Demons were on planet, then their invasion could end in a miserable failure.

Salleema clicked on his suit's communication array so he could speak to all of the drop ship pilots at once.

"All drop ships report in" he ordered. In perfect order the drop ships checked in; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Theta, and Ogama.

"I want drop ships Alpha and Theta to continue to the selected co-ordinates." He ordered, "the rest of you will remain on standby until further notice."

Salleema wanted face these new arrivals head on, and with the help of the Mega-Lekgolo, victory would be pretty well guaranteed.

In unison he heard confirmations from all of the drop ships as they flew toward their destination on a large mountain. Finally, the pilot spoke over the intercom.

"We are approaching the drop point, prepare yourselves, we will be coming in fast."

Salleema felt the drop ship dip slightly forward, gaining speed as they shortened the distance between them and their target. He felt the thuds in the floor as plasma rockets were launched to test the anti air defences.

When it was confirmed there was none the drop ships sped on, anti gravity generators humming as they traveled over the mountain. The drop ship came to a lurching halt, the ship's side panels slid down and the anti-grav drop shute activated.

Not wasting any time, Salleema gathered his strength and leapt out of the left side hatch, his fellow Sangheili doing the same. As he fell toward the monastery floor Salleema unsheathed his energy sword, watching as his enemies grew nearer.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Confrontation

Jason glared at one of the human Sith standing across the table. He felt disgusted with himself and the situation he found himself in. The Jedi and Sith were never supposed to co-exist. They had made an attempt once before but it never lasted, and just like Cath had said it wouldn't this time.

Tana was preparing the forms for the treaty signing. He and Keelu stood in between Keth and Tana, a precaution for everyone's sake. The less contact the Jedi had with the Sith the better. Jason could feel the dark side of the force throbbing around the room, emanating from the four evil creatures standing on the other side of the stone table.

Jason called on the force to comfort him, but it was difficult with so many dark emotions flooding throughout the monastery. His actions proved unsuccessful, despite the fact that the surrounding planet was so rich in light side energies.

The Sith lord he had been glaring at sneered, showing rows of ugly pointed teeth. "Having trouble with the force Jedi?"

These were the first words any of them had heard from the Sith since their landing. He finally recognised the Sith lord as Darth Trepid, second hand advisor to the current and self opposed Sith Emperor.

"It's none of your business, Sith." Jason spat back. Trepid shrugged and smiled darkly. Tana quickened her pace, pulling the rest of the documents out of her bag and dumping them onto the table.

"We're ready to start" she said hurriedly, but Trepid continued staring Jason down. Either Trepid didn't hear Tana or he didn't care,

"Of course it's my business Jedi. We're all in this mess together."

Jason gave the Sith a suspicious look while Keelu shifted uncomfortably beside him, both unsure as to what the Sith was up to.

"What mess?" Jason asked. The smile was gone from Trepid's face, only to be replaced with a look of seriousness.

"The aliens" he said slowly. "We knew that ship wasn't Republican and I suspect you knew it wasn't ours. This planet is going to be invaded soon, and I believe our arrivals here will trigger it."

Everyone in the room was staring at the Sith lord, all waiting for him to continue.

"I do not know what they are here for, but from a military prospective I can tell you, that ship was moving in to deploy its forces. There is no other reason why a ship of that size would move that close to a planet this small." Trepid looked up. Where a once magnificent ceiling was, there was now a gaping hole revealing a clearing sky. The storm was settling and a pristine blue sky was becoming visible.

The Sith gazed out of the hole, as if looking at the alien ship through the bright atmosphere with his bare eyes.

"We're here for a reason Lord Trepid," Tana said, trying to keep her voice light, "if you wouldn't mind I would like to get this finished before we deal with any other problems" the Sith tore his gaze away and looked at his three comrades and then Tana. He rolled his eyes and nodded his head.

Tana picked up one of the data pads and started to read

"I'm just going to read the first bit of each one to make this short. By the order of the Galactic Republic, the people of the Sith have been ordered to the signing of this peace treaty to bring an end to the recent war. Do you comply?" Trepid crossed his arms and nodded at Tana, annoyed at the obviousness of the question.

"On agreeing to these terms, no force sensitive Sith will be permitted to leave the surface of the planet Korriban, do you comply?" the Sith gritted his teeth and nodded once again, but more slowly. It was quite obvious the Sith hated to loose.

Tana continued once more, "You will also be agreeing to the dismemberment of your military forces and the allowance of a Republican blockade around Korriban. Do you comply?" the Sith gave Tana a murderous stare, but finally nodded.

Tana nodded herself reached down to collect several data pads. There were three in all, one for each of the agreements. Tana signed the first document with a stylus before passing it over to Keelu. The three documents slowly made their way around the stone table and eventually arrived back in Tana's hands.

She gave a satisfied sigh and looked at Trepid. "You were talking about the aliens; do you know anything about them?"

The sneer he gave was spine chilling. "I know just as much as you do. That the aliens are here for a reason, one we have yet to discover. As a matter of fact, they're already on their way here"

"What!" Jason exclaimed, "Why didn't you say anything earlier?" The Sith shrugged as his three comrades laughed darkly.

"You seemed so preoccupied with the peace treaty that it would have been impolite to divulge in another topic. And seeing as there is two Jedi here, I'm slightly surprised that you two haven't sensed the aliens' movements"

Jason's hand raced to his light sabre. It was in his hands in a flash, its blue blade glowing bright. Across the table the four Sith had also ignited their own vibrant red weapons. Two Sith, including Trepid, carried single blades like Jason, another carried two, and the last had a double bladed light sabre. He looked at his master; she too had ignited her own light sabre which shined bright green.

"Listen to me Jedi!" Trepid commanded. Jason stood his ground, waiting for the Sith to make the first move. "Like I said before, these aliens are going to attack. We cannot be fighting amongst ourselves if we hope to survive." Jason didn't say anything, he couldn't. It was too hard to comprehend. The Sith actually _wanting _to ally with the Jedi? It just didn't seem right.

"Do you really think...?" Keelu didn't even finish her retort when a large explosion rocked the mountain side. All eight of them looked up. Above them, what was left of the ceiling started crumbling and finally collapsed.

Chunks of rock the size of small star fighters came flying towards them. Jason ran to Keth's side and looked up at the falling debris. He gathered the force around him and Keth like a protective cloak. The rocks cascaded down on top of them, but the force shield Jason created kept them from touching the two of them.

As the last of the boulders crashed to the ground, Jason relaxed his hold on the force. Beside him, it seemed Keelu had done the same thing with Tana. On the other side of the table, the four Sith stood exactly where they had been before, the only difference being their blades were now casually facing toward the ground.

"They're here" Trepid said with a smirk, "just like I said." A shadow fell over the table and the first of the creatures smashed down in front of him, an energy weapon in its hand, and a look of murder in its reptilian eyes.

* * *

Salleema landed on a large stone table, but he didn't hold his ground for long. As soon as he had recovered from the recoil reverberating up his legs, he gracefully flipped off the table into some clearer space. Rocks littered the ground, no thanks to their drop ship's first plasma barrage.

A black cloaked being stepped in front of his vision. Like Salleema, he wielded a blade of pure energy. The only difference being the human's was tinted a blood red and the blade was directed outwards from the human's hand, not forward like Salleema's blade.

Salleema made these examinations in less than a second. He had never heard of humans wielding energy weapons of their own, let alone heard of humans that dress in robes of black and brown.

The human leapt into the air, higher than physics should have allowed, his sword spinning in his hand. Salleema dove out of the way as the human stabbed at the spot he had stood moments before.

He could feel the speed and power behind the attack as the crimson blade raced passed his head, striking the stone floor. The human didn't stop moving, he drew his blade through the ground. Cutting a deep gouge into the rock, he withdrew his blade from the stone in a flurry of sparks, in an attempt to disorient Salleema. But Salleema was prepared.

As the sparks exploded from the ground, he brought his sword up across his chest in a basic defence. His armour's shield flared as the sparks hit him and left him untouched. The human carried forward with a jab to the chest. The sparks had done their job; he didn't have enough time to deflect the blow, so his already weakened shields were forced to take the full blunt of the attack.

A blaring alarm sounded off in his helmet as his shields popped and disappeared. The human attempted another power slice toward his right side, but it was easily deflected.

Salleema lunged forward, attempting to wound his opponent with a slash to his unarmed arm. With lightning speed, the human kept the momentum from Salleema's block and swept his blade around his head so he could counter Salleema's slash.

He was amazed, Salleema had never seen any being move with such speed or grace. The human seemed to have predicted his every move. Salleema was knocked off balance from his foe's parry.

All that was keeping him alive now was his size and power. Had Salleema been any smaller, the human would have finished him off ages ago.

He began moving backwards, sidestepping or blocking the human's attacks. His blade handle feeling awkward in his hand. In most combat situations his sword was better off when facing another sword of the same design. He now realized it possessed a major design flaw. Unlike his opponent, he had less mobility with his sword. The human could move his blade 360 degrees, while he could barely move his half of that.

Salleema took one last backward leap and felt his back hit the stone wall. The human sneered at him with evil pointed teeth. Salleema had fought longer battles before, but his opponent was more skilled than any Sangheili warrior he had ever confronted before.

He taunted Salleema, goading him on, waiting for him to mess up. The human didn't bother finishing him off; he just wanted to watch him struggle. He and the human both knew Salleema couldn't win under these situations.

Surprisingly enough, the human turned off his blade and let loose a rumbling laughter. Salleema knew it was some sort of trap, but he couldn't just do nothing. He swung with his energy sword, aiming for the human's throat. His sword never came close to its target.

His opponent held one hand in front of him, the smile still spread across his face. Salleema's sword hand was immobile, still in a position to attack, But some invisible force was preventing his sword from moving forward.

He pushed with all his might, but his arm wouldn't move. He tried twisting, to redirect his blade in the opposite direction. But even this action proved futile. The human laughed once again and flicked his hand. Salleema was sent reeling back into the wall.

This human was controlling him somehow. It was incredible. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do to win this battle. This human had abilities he couldn't even begin to fathom. Just then, as Salleema moved in to attempt another slash, the human's hand begin to glow a bright blue.

This time Salleema stopped of his own accord, frightened and amazed at what was coming next. He was able to bring his sword up into another defence pose when a half dozen bolts of electricity arched from the human's hand toward Salleema.

Salleema let out a small sigh of relief when his blade absorbed most of the electricity, leaving his now recharged shields to deflect the rest. As the seconds ticked away, Salleema's relief soon turned to worry. He watched in horror as the electricity began to supercharge his energy sword. It began to brighten until he couldn't stand to keep looking at it. The hilt continued to vibrate and heat up in his hand, scalding the unprotected flesh.

Salleema's mind screamed at him to drop the sword, but he knew it would have meant instant death if he did. Suddenly his blade winked out and he felt the hilt pop. The lightning didn't waste any time. Pure energy rolled over his armour, depleting his shields and cooking his body through his gold armour. He cried out in pain and mercy to the gods, but no answer from the heavens came.

He saw his vision begin to blacken around the edges, His muscles were convulsing all over his body. He had no control over himself, he felt helpless, weak. This was no way to die. He would have preferred to die by his enemy's blade, not his supernatural powers of torture.

He would die dishonoured.

He lost consciousness and he crumpled to the ground.

Salleema regained consciousness faster than he expected. But at least with unconsciousness came no pain. It felt like his entire body was on fire. Once again he found himself thanking the strength of his body. If he wasn't as strong as he was, he would have probably blacked out again from the pain.

Salleema felt helpless. His mind was swimming with memories. Many of his people say that a warrior awaiting death re-experiences their life in an instant. They were right. But then, Salleema saw a memory of him and his father practicing combat together when he was young. The memory showed him the key to his salvation.

_This battle isn't over until one of us is dead_, he thought to himself. He listened intently over the sounds of battle, trying to find any hints as to the whereabouts of his opponent.

It was difficult; he could hear the discharge of plasma weapons and exploding of plasma grenades. Among the familiar battle sounds came several new ones. He could hear the hum of other energy weapons similar to his enemy's, which meant more of them.

He felt and heard the human's boots crunching the gravel as he walked closer to Salleema, unsheathing his ruby tinted blade as he came. The approaching hum meant death, an honourable death, but it was a death he wasn't ready for.

The human stood over him, his blade hanging at his side.

"Weak, pathetic alien." The human hissed in his native tongue, "You had no idea did you? That when you came to this planet you would be facing a Sith?" Salleema did nothing, giving the appearance of being unconscious.

He had decided to learn as much of the human language as he could at the war's beginning. But this human was stretching his knowledge of their language. What was Sith? It sounded like a title, but like the title of "Spartan" it had no meaning in any covenant dialect.

"Now look at you." he taunted, "defeated, laying at the feet of a Sith lord. Just like all weak beings should. Death awaits you, creature, and I, lord Conqar, will be the deliverer of It."

Salleema heard the hum of the human's blade as he lifted it above his head, preparing to strike. _Now or never_, Salleema thought. As the blade descended toward him, Salleema reached behind his back to retrieve the two hidden weapons he saw in his memory, the very weapons his father had said would probably save his life one day.

He was right.

The smaller blade hilts ignited and the small blue blades curved over either hand, creating two semi circles of pure energy at least 3 inches long protecting both of his hand's knuckles.

Unlike the energy sword, these smaller blades were used for short distance, prolonged combat. With them he had much more mobility, and a much better chance against his opponent's single blade. He brought them in a flat defence position as the human's blade crashed into them. If he was angry before, it was nothing compared to the rage the human was emanating now; his face was only inches away from Salleema's, his face contorted by anger.

It was here he could see the true evil in the human's face; he was unlike any human he had seen before. Salleema was actually scared of this human. true fear. But this battle had gone on long enough. Salleema kicked with his hoof, knocking the smaller human back and breaking several of his ribs. Salleema climbed to his feet, his muscles begging him to stop and give up.

He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore his pain. He dropped into a defence stance and waited for the human to make a move. He was rewarded when the "Sith" rushed Salleema's defences. The human was slower because of his broken ribs, but he was still frighteningly fast.

The human attacked in a series of flurries; right shoulder, left leg, head, and right shoulder again, each one Salleema blocked with ease. The human was getting frantic, the only way he could win now was with another lightening trick, but Salleema was too close and wasn't going to give the human a chance to attempt it a second time.

The human swung his blade from his right side, trying for another power strike. But Salleema saw his mistake and exploited it. He was inside the human's range of motion faster than the human could have predicted. He swiped his blades across the human's torso. Almost slicing him in half. There was no blood, which was a benefit of energy weapons.

The human's own energy sword clattered to the ground with his mangled body and shut off, but by some miracle the human still clung to life. He gasped for breath, but his exposed and severed lungs whistled as air escaped

"You were mistaken human" Salleema said in the human dialect, his breathing heavy from over excursion. "I will not be defeated by you, _Sith_. Because of your heresy, honour will never be yours. Die in damnation heretic!" he lifted his right knuckle blade and brought it down on the human's face. Ending his life in a brutal crunch and hiss.

* * *

Jason's blade stabbed into the small alien's orange backpack, its exposed interior venting methane. He leapt out of the way as his lightsaber lit the explosive gas and caused the alien's body to explode into a fireball, engulfing two of its comrades. He shot a glance to his left and caught sight of Tana and Keth crouched behind the rock table, taking pot shots on unsuspecting enemies with blaster pistols while the Jedi and Sith commanded the battle.

His master was in the thick of the fighting alongside Darth Trepid. The two were back to back, taking on half a dozen of the large serpent creatures, each one anticipating and reacting to the moves of the other. They were an unlikely pair, but they worked well together. Jason gathered the force and leapt across the room toward his master, batting away plasma bolts as he flew.

Jason rolled with the momentum from his landing and came up with his light sabre in an upward slash, almost cutting in half one of the serpent aliens. He held up both his hands and blew away two more with a powerful force push and sent them flying into a bird like alien with a wrist shield.

With a combined effort, the three of them were able to push some of the aliens back into one of the hallways leading into the monastery, allowing them more room to manoeuvre.

Jason weaved and dove for cover behind a boulder as thin plasma beams flew at him from a second story balcony inside the circular room. He stole a glance and noticed several more of the bird creatures raining thin plasma beams down on his comrades, long purple sniper rifles recoiling in their callused hands.

From what Jason figured, these creatures were very accurate and scarcely missed, except when they were deflected by a light sabre. One wrong move and Jason knew he'd be cooked by those beam weapons.

Jason was fed up; he was tired and even a little angry that such an easy mission had gone so wrong so fast. He made his decision.

He glanced around the battle field and found what he needed to get the job done.

In one swift movement Jason leapt from behind his pillar and gripped one of the snipers with the force, its companions staring in bewilderment as it floated clutching at its throat. With a flick of his wrist, Jason sent the creature crashing into the others.

While they were distracted he found the small purple ball he had assumed was a grenade lying a few feet away. He summoned it with the force and then force jumped up to the balcony.

Jason grabbed the guard rail and pulled himself onto the second story floor. Upon landing he felt something crack under his left boot. He was horrified to find the head of one of the snipers crushed beneath his boot. He shut out the image and focused on what needed to be done.

The disoriented creatures were beginning to realize what had happened and started firing their beam weapons at him. The creatures were good shots at a long distance but they were horrible up close, especially against a foe wielding a deadly light sabre.

While fending off horribly placed plasma beams with his sabre, Jason gripped the purple grenade and pressed what he hoped was the activation mechanism. Almost instantly the sphere began to glow blue and create a high pitched whining sound.

The creatures knew what was coming and tried to run, but they were already too late. Jason let the grenade fly. The alien explosive landed in their midst, stuck to the shoulder of a large sniper. The light from the grenade grew until it seemed it would burst, and then, it did.

The concussive force caused the old balcony to shake and crumble. Jason and any of his companions below were able to jump clear of the ancient rock, but some of the aliens weren't as lucky.

Jason jumped from the collapsing balcony and landed in front of Keth and Tana and redirected any plasma bolts that came too close to hitting the two non force users. He looked back at his friends for a split second and knew there was something wrong, they weren't firing back.

With a massive force push he sent over a dozen enemies reeling into walls and stone pillars. He spun around and what he saw almost made him cry. Tana, beautiful and strong, was being cradled in Keth's arms, a deep plasma burn carved into her mid section. Keth looked up from his sister, his face stained with his tears.

"Keth, I..." Jason began, but the plasma was being fired again and the need to protect his friends was enough to pull him out of this living nightmare. He turned to face his enemies and brought his sabre to bear.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Transcendence

When Keelu felt Tana's pain and Keth's anguish she left Darth Trepid and darted toward the two humans, slicing at aliens as she blew by. There was suddenly a large boom and she looked up to see her apprentice teetering on a falling balcony.

Keelu knew her apprentice well and knew he would be fine, but still she watched and let out a small sigh of relief once he landed in front of Tana and Keth. With Tana and Keth out of the battle Jason would probably have a difficult time.

She twirled around with her light sabre ready. Someone was stalking her, she could feel it. There wasn't much to hide behind in her vicinity, so she knew the creature had somehow cloaked itself. She turned on the spot slowly, deflecting stray plasma while she looked for her enemy.

Then she saw it out of the corner of her eye. A pocket of distorted air not even three feet to her left. She gave no sign that she saw it, but when it lunged she was ready.

The cloaked creature was fast, but a Jedi knight was faster. She spun and brought her blade down, knocking away two half moon energy blades and causing the alien's cloaking generator to flare. She caught a glimpse of gold before it became transparent once more. The two duellists backed away from each other.

The creature Keelu faced turned off its camouflage and stared deep into her eyes. She looked back, and what did she see? Pity, resentment. She felt it inside the creature too. She decided to take a leap of faith.

"Who are and why are you attacking us?" Keelu asked over the noise of the battle. Her opponent began circling her, and she in turn, did the same. The creature gave a small smile.

"That's a long story alien, but I'll explain in short" the creature said in a thickly accented galactic basic. "I am a Sangheili warrior name Salleema 'Zunamee, I am a member of the Covenant. The Covenant is a group of alien species who have come together under the guidance of the Prophets and our gods the Forerunners"

Keelu thought quickly. _This explains the different alien species_ she thought, _but that doesn't account for everything_

"And the reason you attacked us?" Keelu snapped.

"Your human companions are the reason" the Sangheili hissed "they were not worthy to transcend into godhood along with the Forerunners, and were left behind. And because they were left behind shows they deserve nothing more than destruction."

_Okay_, Keelu thought, _these people definitely haven't figured out the force yet._

"What proof do you have of this?"

The Sangheili gave a sly smile, "all in good time" it said "but tell me, why would a non human like yourself ally with these heretics, surly you know no good will come of it? You are making a grave mistake working with them."

"I don't know where you come from Salleema," she said "but from where I'm from, most species get along, especially with humans"

The Sangheili shook his "you must understand that following these humans will end unfortunately for you. Are you sure you are willing to take this risk?"

Keelu shrugged "I'll take my chances"

"Very well then"

The alien lunged forward, his blades aiming for her throat. Keelu brought her saber up, knocking the half moon blades upward. She lashed out with her foot, attempting to put her opponent off balance, but when she came close to hitting the armour, her foot hit its invisible body shield and slid to the side as if the alien was covered in oil.

The Sangheili brought his blades back down, aiming for her vulnerable leg. Keelu dropped to the ground and slashed at his legs. The Sangheili leapt over her green blade and came down on her with both blades aimed for her head. Predicting this Keelu rolled to a safe distance and got up, her blade humming in her hands.

The two aliens circled each other once more, assessing their situations. Keelu realized she couldn't continue to fight like this, and decided to change tactics. There was a half destroyed pillar standing to the right of her opponent, the perfect opportunity.

Before Salleema could make his move, Keelu turned off her lightsaber and gripped the pillar with the force. Salleema didn't stand a chance. The pillar broke free of its foundations and launched itself toward the Sangheili like a runaway speeder. The force of the impact was immense, bone shattering. The rock swept up Salleema and drove him into the far wall. Keelu doubted the creature survived. But still she sensed the alien amid the rubble. As if on cue the Sangheili exploded from the pile of broken rock, yelling in rage as he attacked.

He was blinded by rage, attempting to land blows without even thinking of the possibility that his opponent could fight back. Keelu blocked every blow, barely even breaking a sweat. Keelu needed to end this battle soon, she feared for Tana's life, and prolonging this fight wouldn't help her.

The Sangheili brought his blades down trying to break her defences, but Keelu didn't give him the chance. She jumped out of the way and sliced at her foe.

Two three fingered hands clattered to the ground, separated from their host. The Sangheili was stunned. He looked at what was left of his arms and fell to his knees, defeated. He looked up into Keelu's eyes once more, but where there was once pity and resentment there was only sadness and disappointment.

"Please creature, give me an honourable death. I cannot stand to live like this; it would dishonour me and my entire family"

Even in the middle of a battle, Keelu was calm. She knelt down in front of her defeated enemy.

"Salleema of the Covenant, I am Keelu of the Republic." she spoke softly, looking deep into his sad eyes "And if it's an honoured death you want then I shouldn't stand in the way of that."

Even though killing was discouraged by the Jedi order, Keelu felt that if a being craved death she shouldn't keep them from it and felt it easier for them and herself if she helped them achieve it.

"Thank you, Keelu of the Republic. May you go with honour" Salleema's voice rumbled with pain.

Keelu stood up and lifted her light sabre above his head "may the force be with you Salleema." she brought her blade down in one long arch, and freed the tormented soul that was once Salleema 'Zunamee from his earthly bonds.

* * *

Kalleem punched the wall; "No!" all eyes in the bridge were on him. They had all been watching the HUD feed of their ship master. They watched him defeat the human with the crimson blade and how he in turn was defeated by the alien which called itself Keelu of the Republic.

"It was an honourable death" said one of officers quietly, "we can only hope we die the way ship master Salleema did" there was a murmur of agreement throughout the bridge. The officer who spoke up looked at Kalleem "what is our course of action, shipmaster?"

Now that Salleema was dead his rank and responsibilities were passed on to Kalleem. It felt weird, being in control over the whole ship, but the novelty quickly ended at the realization of the death of his mentor.

"Before his departure, shipmaster Salleema informed me the Prophet of Regret's own personal fleet is on its way to finish off the planet" Kalleem looked around the bridge at his officers "the other drop ships have been on standby for a while. It seems the battle on the mountain is lost, send them to the nearest town and destroy the heretics living there."

Kalleem sat down in the shipmaster's chair, his chair, and stared at the luminary, thinking about his mentor. The human and the alien his master had faced both carried single bladed energy weapons.

He looked down at his own energy sword. It was definitely flawed; the manoeuvrability of the sword was very minimal. Kalleem had contacts, scientists and engineers which could assist him in his task.

But what he was considering was heresy. Only the prophets were allowed to change what they had created from Forerunner technology. Then again the ever growing Covenant arsenal could do with another addition, and if he was charged with heresy he would face death, a fate worthy of his crime.

None the less his plan would have to be executed quietly and away from prying eyes. No one could know what was running through his mind.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Unity

"Helen! What are you doing?" Cris yelled. Helen ignored her brother and just kept on driving. When they reached their farm Helen didn't even bother opening the gate, she revved the speeder's engine and blew right through the wood and onto the long stretch of road leading to the house. She could already see her parents running toward them from the farm house. She pushed on the breaks and the repulsers answered with a screech and a lurch.

Helen's father ran to her window, clearly confused and worried "Helen, what's going on?" he asked softly. Helen's mother stood silently behind her father, also awaiting an answer.

Helen took a deep breath and looked her father square in her eyes. "Dad, remember that alien ship I told you about?" Helen asked quietly. Her father nodded. "I think they are coming to invade the planet. Which is why we need to take what we can and get out of here."

Helen's mother turned away shaking her head, her father only stared at her with disappointment. "Helen" he said, his voice still soft, she always did like it when he talked like this. "There are thousands of intelligent beings in the galaxy. Why would an advanced alien race want to invade a simple farming planet? It just doesn't make sense"

Helen tried to argue but her father cut her off, his voice now stern."Now we are going into town to get some supplies, we need more seed after the next harvest and you'll need more wood if you're going to make a new gate to keep the animals from getting out. Do you understand?" Helen only nodded. "Then both of you get in the back and wait for your mother and I."

Helen did as she was told and sulked as she climbed into the backseat with Cris. She watched as her parents walked back into the house

"Helen you can't know for sure if those things you saw were drop ships" Cris said, "They could have just been some space junk that happened to cross in front of the alien ship"

"I know what I saw, they were ships not space junk" Helen mumbled.

Cris shrugged "whatever, If you want to believe we're being invaded then be my guest." Helen was about to argue back but came up short when her parents got into the front seats.

The trip into town was quiet and largely uneventful, but Helen wasn't wasting her time. Her mind was racing with plans on how she could get her family to safety.

When the speeder entered the town her father spoke up.

"You two are going to have to get the supplies on your own, so Helen I'm going to give you fifty credits and you better spend it on what you need to rebuild that gate, understood?" Helen nodded. The speeder came to a stop outside the town's only hardware store where Helen and Cris crawled out of the speeder. They shut their doors and turned to the hardware store.

"I still don't see why I have to come with you," Cris whined as their parents drove off. "I mean you were the one who totalled the gate"

Helen turned to her brother, knowing she might regret her next choice "Cris I hope to the force I'm wrong about this. Come on, we're not getting supplies"

Her brother stood there confused, "What? You destroy the gate and now you're going to spend dad's money on... Wait, what are you going to spend it on?"

Helen stated walking down the side walk, "come on and I'll show you"

The two siblings walked several blocks to the edge of town before reaching their destination.

"Why are we going into a hunting lodge?" Cris asked.

"Because they have what we need" Helen replied.

Helen led the way into the lodge. Inside there was a small indoor cafe off to the right. Lining the ceiling sat several hunting trophy animal heads. A dozen or so off worlders conversed about hunting opportunities on Vespae and other nearby worlds.

Suppressing her curiosity of the hunters she dragged her brother over to a counter on the left side of the lodge. Behind the wooden counter rested dozens of different blasters of all shapes and sizes, but the cashier was no where to be seen.

"Hello?" Helen called out.

"One minute" said a gruff voice from behind a door. In fact it was five full minutes before the voice's owner stepped out to greet them.

"Sorry about that" the man rumbled "Damn fridge is on the frits. So what can I get for you two?"

Helen was stunned by the sheer size of the man and had difficulty finding her voice "uh...our dad sent us here to get a couple of blasters for hunting on the moons of Caspiar" she lied. The man eyed the two of them suspiciously,

"You two do know you need a licence to purchase one of these things don't you?"

_Stang_ Helen thought, "We know but we're in a bit of a hurry. Our transport leaves in ten minutes and our old equipment has all but rusted away over the years." The man gave them one more suspicious look, "alright but I'm keeping this on record so the next time you folks are in town you can show some credentials for your purchase. So, what do ya need?"

* * *

Keelu ran up beside Jason. Together they were able to force back their enemies behind cover. "We need to get Tana and Keth to the ship. There are medical supplies which can help her there" Keelu said.

Jason glanced at Keelu, "what do you have in mind master?"

Keelu looked around the room. "The exit hallway seems clear, but we need a distraction if we're going to make a break for it, and I think I've got just the thing" Jason was slightly confused but he decided to trust his master's judgement. "When I say so I want you to take Keth and Tana and make a run for the ship" Keelu said

Jason looked at his master's green face "what about you?"

"Don't you worry about me, I'll be fine. All that matters is you get Tana to safety"

Jason nodded his understanding.

"Are you ready?" Keelu asked.

"Yes master"

"Good, then go, now!" Jason twirled around and ran, yelling at Keth to get Tana and follow him. The man got to his feet and hefted his sister into his arms. Jason came over to help. Together they slowly made their way to the exit hallway, barely evading enemy plasma fire. Jason turned around and caught sight of his master. Keelu was using the force to bring down the walls and ceiling on her enemies, crushing them beneath the ancient rock. Keelu twisted her head and locked eyes with her apprentice.

"Go!" she yelled. Jason and Keth turned their back on the battle and made their way out onto the white mountain peak.

"Can you take her from here?" Jason asked once they reached the _Saurora's _loading ramp.

"Sure, I..."

A shock wave ripped over the mountain top, knocking the three of them into the ship. Jason raised his head to see a smoking hole barely six feet away. Their attackers made no attempt to find cover, considering their size. From the monastery entrance came lumbering four enormous monsters almost twice Jason's size, all four aiming large green canons in their direction.

"Go inside and get the ship ready for launch, I'll hold them off!" Jason said to Keth. Without waiting for an answer Jason leapt at the monsters with his light sabre.

The lead creature swung with a massive shield, almost knocking Jason's head off his shoulder. Jason slid under the shield and brought his blade up, slicing the thick slab of metal in half. The monster stared at what was left of his shield, clearly amazed.

Jason back flipped and threw his sabre. The blue blade flew straight and true. The head of the creature fell with a crunch in the icy snow. Jason's light sabre didn't stop there, it continued on toward the other three creatures at a fatal pace.

Two were quick enough to dodge the attack, but the third didn't see it coming. The light sabre plunged deep into the creature's chest. The monster shuddered with pain and fell to one knee. With a burst from the force Jason ran up to the monster and grabbed hold of his sabre.

In one swift move he raked the light sabre up through the rest of the alien's chest and finally into the base of its head. The half severed body crashed to the ground, with Jason standing feet away staring down the remaining two creatures.

The two now knew what Jason could do to them up close and their only chance was to fight him at a distance.

Two massive canons charged up, casting green light across their grey armour. Jason had mere seconds to act. Before the aliens could fire he sent a force push into the snow in front of him. The resulting smokescreen threw off their aim.

Twin green blasts of plasma flew blindly into the snow. Jason side stepped both shots easily. He could hear and sense the aliens walking toward the smokescreen, preparing their canons for another barrage.

With his next target in mind Jason blew through the snow and like before he gripped one of aliens with the force and lifted him several feet off the ground. The creature flailed about, trying desperately to get to the ground while its comrade attempted to grab him with fingerless hands.

With a massive effort Jason threw the creature over the cliff and into the sky beyond. Jason levelled his light sabre on the last alien, which had finally charged its plasma canon. Before either of them could make a move the alien exploded into a shower of orange strings and grey metal.

Jason looked at the Saurora and found Keth seated at the controls, a smoking laser canon jutting out of a hidden panel on the ship. Jason quickly climbed aboard the ship.

"Thanks for that" he said once seated in the cockpit "how's Tana?"

"She's stable, but we need to get her some real medical help if she's going to make it."

Jason nodded, "Ok, we should head down to the town at the base of the mountain. There should be a hospital down there where we can get her some help."

Keth sighed approvingly, "good thinking"

Jason was already regretting giving his advice. If the aliens were also invading the town Tana would have to wait until they were off world to get help. Jason only hoped she could hold out until then.

* * *

Helen and Cris ran flat out, blaster rifles clattering in their arms. They turned the street corner and spotted their speeder parked outside the hardware store. Inside were two disgruntled looking parents staring at them from behind the windshield.

Cris and Helen looked at each other nervously and silently walked toward the speeder. Three steps down the street a massive shadow fell over the siblings.

Helen looked up and gasped at what she saw. Hovering less than ten meters above her head was a massive purple drop ship. The same kind of ship she saw leaving the alien cruiser less than an hour earlier.

She flinched at the sound of a whining repulser engine. Helen spun around to see her father gunning the speeder toward them, oblivious to the glowing weapon on the drop ship's undercarriage.

Cris began waving his arms, signalling him to stop. But he was already too late. The drop ship's cannon swivelled in the direction of the speeder, tracking its movement down the street. Their father made no attempt to evade as purple plasma lanced from the drop ship and impacted the speeder.

The vehicle bursted into flames. There was a moment when Helen could see her father's strong face, but then he, like her mother, was engulfed by the fire, their screams being drowned out by the hum of the drop ship hovering over head.

"No!" Helen cried. She fell to her knees, clutching at her stomach as if it could ease the pain she felt in her heart. "No, no, no, no..."

Cris just stood there watching the flames eat away at the speeder. He was in shock over what happened to his parents. It didn't make any sense to him. His mind was overwhelmed by confusion. He didn't even notice what was going on just feet above his head.

Helen looked up with tearful eyes at the drop ship. It had begun moving down the street, blasting away at shops and other speeders with its plasma canon, not even caring if individuals escaped its destruction.

Hate and anger filled her up and replaced the anguish Helen felt in her heart. Wobbling slightly, she got to her feet and looked at her brother.

"Cris?" she gave her brother a good shake, snapping him out of his shock. Helen's brother gazed into her watery eyes. Helen mustered up the courage to say her next words.

"We need to find somewhere we can fight; somewhere we might have a chance."

It was Cris's turn to start crying.

"Helen, Mom and Dad are gone! If we fight we're going to end up like them!"

Helen wiped away her tears. "What would you rather do? Sit here and wait for those things to come and kill us?" Cris was silent.

"I would rather die fighting than cower in a corner waiting for the inevitable." said Helen.

Cris blinked a few times to clear his eyes. He looked around at his surroundings. Shops and speeders on all sides were in flames, their inhabitants running or crawling away from the devastation.

"Town hall would be protected by the police" he reasoned "that would be the safest place to be" Helen nodded in agreement. Her mind was suddenly drawn back to her parents. She would never see them again, she realized. Helen fought back another wave of tears and looked down at the blasters she had bought at the hunting lodge.

She picked one up and handed it to her brother. He took it gingerly and hefted into his arms and checked the power level. Helen did the same and mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do.

"Ready?" she asked Cris.

"Yup" he croaked.

Helen led the way down the streets, always on the lookout for a yet to be seen enemy, but all they found was destruction and death. When they were less than a block away from the town hall another drop ship appeared at the other end of the street. Helen and Cris dove for cover behind a nearby convenience store. They watched covertly as the ships spat out several different aliens, each armed to the teeth and ready for a fight.

"Should we attack?" Cris whispered.

"Let them come closer, that way we will have the element of surprise"

Cris risked a quick peek around the corner, "man, those lizard things are huge"

Helen nodded, "it just makes them bigger targets. Go after them before you take out the others."

"Easier said than done" he said grimly.

The two of them fell into silence and listened as the aliens drew ever closer. The aliens were trigger happy, they were shooting anything that moved. Helen guessed that wouldn't be good for them, they would probably be quick to react when the ambush happened.

Helen looked up and suddenly the aliens were there. Three of them walked slowly by, not even seeing her and Cris sitting against the building. Cris was right, they were big, allot bigger than what she expected.

She turned her head to her brother. There was a look of acceptance on his face, as if he knew there was no hope for them. Helen figured she looked the same since that was exactly what she was thinking. They nodded at one another then stood up. They levelled their blaster rifles at the aliens who were still oblivious to their presence.

Helen took aim and pulled the trigger. The creature yelled in surprised as its shields flared. Helen didn't expect the aliens to have shields, but she kept firing none the less. Even though they were untrained at handling blasters, they were unnaturally good shots.

When the creature's smoking carcass fell to the ground Helen turned her attention on another. Cris had already taken down two of the big serpent aliens and was beginning on the smaller ones. All of this happened in ten frighteningly short seconds, but that was all the time they could spare. Plasma weapons began firing and the siblings dropped back behind cover. Only one of the massive aliens remained, but it was badly injured from Helen's attack.

"Cover me!" Helen yelled. She ran out from behind the building, taking wild shots at the smaller aliens before putting a round in the head of the massive creature lying in the middle of the street. Plasma and blaster bolts filled the air like a storm. Upon reaching the other side of the street, Helen dove behind a burnt out speeder.

She was panting heavily but she didn't let up. Helen blindly fired from behind the speeder, hitting the odd alien or two before swapping out energy clips. She could see her brother on the other side of the street putting up a valiant fight, but the whole thing was one sided. The siblings didn't have many energy clips between the two of them, not to mention the aliens had almost every advantage at this point.

"They're advancing!" yelled her brother. Helen risked exposure and saw Cris was right. The aliens were getting closer. Within no time they would be right on top of them, then it would all be over.

Helen popped up from her cover and used up what ammunition she had left. As her blaster emptied the last amount of rounds into the aliens she felt like someone punched her in the shoulder. She was twirled around and landed face first in the dirt.

She rolled her self onto he back and felt her shoulder. It felt sticky and numb. She drew her hand away from her shoulder to find it slick with her blood.

Helen didn't even realize her brother was calling her name. She sat up slowly and looked at the wound. Her shoulder was almost completely melted, only the bone and underarm tissue was holding it together. She was beyond pain at this point, even shock. Helen knew it was over for her.

A shadow fell over her slender body. She looked up expecting to see another drop ship. Helen let out a wary sigh as she looked up into a serpent's face.

_This is it then_ Helen thought.

The alien ignited an energy blade and raised it above its head. Helen closed her eyes and waited to become one with the force or whatever comes after death.

Helen heard the alien snarl and the whoosh as the blade came swiping through the air, but she never felt the impact. She opened her eyes and expected to some kind of white light at the end of a tunnel. But she didn't. What she did see made her stare in awe. Standing atop the now dead alien was a boy. He looked about the same age as she was but that was where all the similarities ended.

The boy wore a light brown tunic and wielded a blue blade of energy.

_A Jedi_ Helen thought.

The boy jumped off the corpse and flew toward the aliens. He landed in their midst, cutting them into pieces with lethal skill. The Jedi finished them off reasonably quickly and move to help Helen.

The boy put his light sabre away and lifted her into his arms. Helen stared at his face. To Helen she had never seen a more attractive young man in her life. The Jedi then placed her on a soft surface and began tending to her wound. Helen looked around and found she was inside some kind of metal building.

"Cris?" she asked the Jedi, but her words came out all garbled.

"Save your strength" he said in a reassuring voice. "Your friend is fine. He's unconscious but you're both going to make it"

Helen nodded. She liked the sound of that. She closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep, images of her saviour filling her dreams.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Escape

The boy was much heavier and required the combined effort of Jason and Keth to carry him from the body strewn street and into the Saurora. Other than the fact that a piece of falling debris from a building knocked him unconscious, he was otherwise uninjured.

After heaving him onto Jason's empty bed Keth rounded on Jason.

"What now?" He whined. "With this town over run there's no way Tana will make it."

Jason sighed, "We save as many as we can. Then make a run to the nearest star system with a decent medical facility."Keth opened his mouth like he was about to say something but seemed to decide against it. Silently they made their way to the cockpit, avoiding each other's gaze.

"Where can we find the most survivors?" Keth asked suddenly.

Jason scratched his head, "I don't know, the town hall maybe? If the town's police force was quick enough they would have set up a line of defence there."

"And if they didn't?"

Jason looked the man in the eyes. "Then we might have no choice but to leave, with or without my master."

Keth eased back in the pilot's seat and peered out the window at the apocalyptic landscape. "What are we waiting for then?" without warning the ship lifted off the ground and headed for the center of town.

Jason looked at what was left of the town. The majority of it was in ruins. It reminded him of the war with the Sith, but even during the war the Sith didn't destroy entire towns for no reason. It was heart breaking to see, but in a way Jason was used to it.

"You were right" said Keth.

Jason snapped out of his thoughts and redirected his mind at the problem at hand. He sat up straighter in his seat and fixed his eyes on town hall. There was clearly a massive battle ensuing. Blaster bolts and plasma flew to and from the building, taking out huge chunks of dirt and rock.

"I'm taking control of the canons" Jason said as he typed away at the ship's controls "can you move us around so I can get a good shot?"

"I'll do my best" said Keth.

The _Saurora _flew over town hall and spun on a dime to face the first line of offenders. When Jason had his first target he didn't hesitate. Twin turbo canons fired in unison, blowing away half a dozen of the small aliens.

The aliens tried firing back at the _Saurora_, but their small hand held weapons were nothing against the ship's hull. Jason blew away aliens of all shapes and sizes.

"We got a couple drop ships coming in from the East." Keth informed. Jason pulled the canons away from the ground battle and found three oddly shaped drop ships cruising toward them at a remarkable speed. Canons boomed and blaster bolts flew. The drop ships shuddered with each impact until finally, they succumbed to the never ending wave of blaster fire.

Three flaming drop ships crashed to the ground, putting an end to the _Saurora's _only major threat. Jason directed the cannons back to the ground battle and made quick work of the remaining aliens.

When the job was done Jason disengaged the canons and slumped back in his seat, relieved all of this was almost over.

The _Saurora _touched down outside the now quiet city hall with a slight bump. Jason climbed to his feet and left Keth in the cockpit as he made his way to the boarding ramp.

_Just a bit longer_ Jason told his exhausted body, _and then you can rest_.

The ramp descended and he was greeted by almost twenty people, half of which were wearing police uniforms. They were all talking at once, trying to understand what had happened and if he was there to save him. Jason was stunned by how few people there were.

He raised his hand for silence and the mob instantly obeyed. "We're here to rescue you. I need you to enter the ship in a safe and orderly fashion. There is nothing to worry about so there's no need to rush."

The crowd all calmed down slightly and began boarding the _Saurora_. Jason stepped away to watch for another possible attack. As he turned away from the grateful crowed Jason's com link beeped.

He hastily whipped it out and was relieved to see his master's face floating above the mini holoprojector.

"Master, the aliens attacked the town. We've been able to save about twenty civilians and we're going to leave to get Tana and some of these civilians some help."

Keelu sighed, "I was hoping we could save more, but what's done is done. I'm on my way to your location with the Sith. We were able to take a prisoner; one of the large serpent creatures. Once we get back to Couriscant we can finally get some answers."

Jason shifted uncomfortably, "Master I fear for Tana's life. I can feel the force leaving her and I'm afraid time is against us"

"I understand, I will ask the Sith if they can set course for Couriscant. That way you won't have to waste more time waiting for me, and the civilians won't be distressed about sharing a ship with one of the creatures who sought to do them harm."

Jason nodded, "yes master, may the force be with you."

Keelu smiled "And may it be with you Jason. See you on Couriscant."

The line was cut and Jason was left there standing on silence. He looked around to realize all the civilians were aboard the _Saurora_. With little room, Jason made his way back into the packed ship and into the cockpit.

"Hear anything about Keelu?" Keth asked.

"She's got a ride with the Sith, we're meeting them back on Couriscant."

"Then I guess it's finally time to leave" Keth said, his voice full of sorrow.

The _Saurora _lifted off Vespian earth for the last time and set course for the familiar darkness of space.

* * *

Kalleem stared wide eyed through the luminary as the Prophet of Regret's legendary fleet emerged from Slipspace.

"Shipmaster, the Prophet of Regret wishes to speak with you privately" said the communications officer.

"Tell them I will be in the comm. room as soon as possible" Kalleem replied. He stood up and left the bridge. He quickly made his way to the comm. room, not wanting to displease the hierarch.

Once inside the room he opened up communications with the Prophet's carrier ship. Instantly the hierarch's holographic image appeared in the center of the room.

Kalleem bowed low "hierarch it is an honour."

The Prophet stared at Kalleem with contentment. "I congratulate you shipmaster Salleema. I never expected the Prophet of Truth would be right about the existence of outlying human worlds"

Kalleem chose his next words carefully, "forgive me hierarch, Shipmaster Salleema fought and died on the planet surface along with many other brave souls seeking honour in battle."

The hierarch nodded his long head, "you have my condolences. We are moving the fleet into position to burn the planet as we speak."

Kalleem smiled darkly "Yes hierarch. But I must tell you; these creatures aren't the same as the ones we have combated across the many previous worlds."

Regret looked at Kalleem curiously, "yes the Prophet of Truth has told me about how they seem to be cut off from the rest of their race"

Kalleem shook his head, "it's not that hierarch. They also seem different technologically. They have ships and weapons that their brethren did not. It seems that their technology is almost equal to ours."

"Hmm, this is troubling" Regret said slowly. "No matter. We will destroy this world and wipe any evidence of their technology from the face of the universe."

Kalleem was thinking that there could be more of these advanced humans else ware in the galaxy, but he chose to keep silent. "Yes hierarch, we will recall our troops and await further orders"

The Prophet nodded and ended the conversation with a wave of his hand. The holoprojector shut off and Kalleem shakily got to his feet. Never before had he talked to someone with such divine power.

He smiled to himself as he made his way to the bridge. He had just talked to one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and even he didn't know of the heretical ideals running through the head of Kalleem 'Lanuntee.

* * *

The _Saurora_ eventually caught up to the Sith star ship and together they flew out of Vespae's atmosphere and into space. Keth and Jason stared in amazement at the thirty massive alien ships appearing out of bright points of light in the middle of space.

Both ships activated their cloaking devices and silently watched as the alien fleet flew by, not even talking any notice to either ship.

The hyperspace coordinates were being input unreasonably slowly, which was torturing Keth. Jason turned away from the progress bar and looked out at Vespae. The planet no longer had a bright feeling of light side energies. It now had a growing shadow of the dark side.

Jason watched the alien ships take up positions around the planet. He was curious as to what was about to happen, but he knew it wasn't going to be anything good.

Jason turned his head away as thousands of minds all screamed out in pain from the planet surface. Keth too had turned away from the screen to watch the aliens do their evil work.

"They're destroying the entire planet."

Jason couldn't resist. He looked out the window and watched as the alien ships shot beams of plasma onto the planet surface, cooking every living creature on the surface into char.

Jason wept as he watched. A little alarm sounded that the coordinates had finished the upload to the hyperdrive computer. Keth rushed over and hit a switch. Hyperspace opened up like an old friend and invited them in.

Jason didn't know how long he sat there but it felt like forever. Keth left at some point to check in on his sister, but he never came back. Jason wasn't sure what made him do it but finally he too made his way to the medical bay.

He opened the door after shifting through the many civilians and found Keth hunched over Tana's bed, crying.

On the vital screen beside the bed everything was flat lined. Colonel Tana Medea was dead, killed in action in heavy fire against an unknown enemy on the planet Vespae, for no reason at all.

Jason stepped up beside Keth and rested a hand on his shoulder and he too began to cry. He cried for Tana and the millions of other souls who perished on Vespae.

Jason couldn't even come to hate the aliens at this point, that was how far his grief had come.

It was a terrible end to an even more horrible beginning. The Republic was probably at war again. But this time Jason knew they were going to win at all costs. They would avenge the countless people who were killed in cold blood.

Jason would be sure of that.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Ten Years Later

Jason stood outside the council chamber, hesitant to enter. This was the first time in almost ten years the council had requested an audience with him, and now they were going to send him on his first mission since the battle against the aliens on Vespae.

Jason remembered it like it all like it was yesterday. But what he really remembered the most was the interrogation session with the captive alien afterward. He had asked to be the one to interrogate the creature. It was a decision he would never forget and constantly regret.

He used the force to enter the alien's mind while drawing on the same dark emotions as the Sith. He had found what he needed in the alien's mind at the expense of its life.

They called themselves the Covenant. They were an alliance of deeply religious species that had come together in an attempt to follow in the footsteps of their gods, the Forerunners, by activating an array of weapons called Halo which they believed were spread throughout the galaxy.

Jason learned much about the Covenant in that short half an hour of digging through the alien's mind. He had learned all the alien species' names; Unggoy, Huragok, Kig-Yar, San'Shyuum, Lekgolo, Jiralhanae and Sangheili. He leaned about how they were able to travel faster than light speed. They traveled through a parallel dimension known as Slipspace. He learned about the Forerunners and their battle with an alien parasite known as the Flood, and how it was defeated by the activation of the Halo array. But what had intrigued Jason the most was the fact that he found loads of knowledge about a massive war ongoing between the Covenant and a more primitive race of Humans.

The reason behind this war was what had driven Jason to commit such a horrendous crime. The thought that humans elsewhere in the galaxy were being persecuted because of their existence was what drove him over the edge. He had killed the Sangheili out of revenge. Following the interrogation session Jason was left hollow and empty.

After relaying all the information he discovered to the Jedi council he decided to leave Couriscant. He had realized what the dark side could do to a corrupted individual like himself and for a while he chose a life of exile and made a promise to himself that he would never fight again.

After living in the forests of Endiku for eight long years his old master finally sought him out. By then Jason's grief had diminished and he agreed to return to Couriscant with Keelu.

For two years he quietly lived in the Jedi temple with his master, studying the ways of the force until the day the Jedi council asked to speak with him.

Jason gulped and looked down at his light sabre. He hadn't used it since the day he saved a boy and a girl fighting Covenant in the middle of a street back on Vespae, but even though he refused to fight he always kept it with him for some reason. Jason breathed deeply then stepped through the doors.

The first face he saw was his master's. The previous year Keelu had been elevated to a seat on the council. He was happy for her, but having her sitting there watching him made him even more nervous.

Jason made his way to the center of the chamber and turned to face Master Cath. The old Jedi master was looking like he was nearing the end of his life, but even now he still looked as intimidating as he did in his youth.

"Thank you for coming Jason" Cath said softly.

Jason nodded lightly.

Cath sighed. "You're probably wondering what we want with you, correct?"

Jason looked the Jedi square in the eyes, "I wouldn't have put it so harshly but yes, I am curious."

Cath clasped his hands and sat back in his chair. "We think the Covenant have returned"

Jason looked at his boots, not wanting to hear what as coming next.

"Republic forces have detected several large ships dropping in and out of the Abian system for the past week now. An analysis of the data reveals that they are of similar deign to the ships you encountered ten years ago in orbit around Vespae."

Jason winced at the names, Abian IV and Vespae still gave him nightmares to this day. "Why are you telling me this?" He asked.

"Because this is the first time in nearly a decade that we have had any kind of contact with the Covenant. You and your master are some of the only ones in known space who have fought and won against them. We are going to be sending a fleet of about thirty capital ships to the Abian system and we want you to accompany the fleet for a special mission that may require your experience."

Jason shifted uncomfortably, "You have Keelu, why do you need me?"

Cath looked at Keelu then back to Jason, "Jason I know it must feel horrible having others remind you of all the suffering you have experienced in your life time. But you have knowledge and insight that Master Keelu doesn't. You've been inside the mind of one of them, which makes you more important than any other member on this mission."

Jason felt a trickle of sweat roll down his back, "I... I wont have to fight will I?"

Cath shook his head, "no, if that is your wish then no one will force you to fight. And if you refuse to take part in this mission then I would assume the fleet would appreciate it if you could offer them insight on the Covenant and their forces if it comes to a full scale battle."

Jason thought this over. In a way he would be helping to defend the Republic without needing to fight, but he didn't want to suffer from the tragedies of war again. The mere thought of going to war shook him to his core. He wasn't afraid of dying, it was watching others perish that scarred him. Then again, he was a Jedi, and it was the role of a Jedi to protect the innocents, even if it meant taking another life.

Jason took a deep breath, "Fine, I'll go, but only to give insight."

"I understand" said Cath, "Now before we get this mission underway I want you to meet someone. Come to think of it you have met her before so this might be a little bit of a reunion." Cath pressed a button on his chair and the chamber doors opened. Several seconds later a beautiful woman wearing a Republic military uniform entered the chamber. At first Jason thought it was Tana coming back from the dead. But as the woman drew closer he realized it wasn't the comedic colonel he had come to know on the trip to Vespae. But to Jason she was still very familiar.

The woman stepped up beside Jason and snapped to attention, "Corporal Helen Terrek reporting for duty master Cath"

Cath nodded at the woman then turned his eyes on Jason, "Jason this is Helen Terrek, Helen this is Jason Kiel. Jason you saved her and her brother on the streets of Vespae during the Covenant's Invasion. I assume you probably remember the incident."

Jason turned to get a better look of the woman. Cath was right, it was the same girl. He remembered those big blue eyes staring wide eyed at him as he carried her to the safety of the _Saurora_. She smiled vibrantly at him before redirecting her gaze back on the Jedi master.

"You will be accompanying her on this mission." Cath continued, "She has been tasked to put together a special team who will attempt to infiltrate and steal the navigation data aboard a Covenant vessel."

"Who is on this team?" Jason queried.

"Helen here, Master Keelu, Star fighter pilot Cris Terrek, Sith Lord Darth Trepid and yourself. But seeing as you won't fight they're just going to have to manage without you."

Helen whipped her head around to look at Jason. He turned away from her, his face flushed. It was embarrassing really, being a Jedi who wouldn't even fight to protect people. Jason knew it would be an awkward few weeks.

"The fleet is scheduled to launch at oh eight hundred tomorrow. We wish all three of you the best of luck." Jason bowed and Helen saluted before leaving the council chamber. The two of them walked toward the turbo lift in a tense silence.

"I never got a chance to thank you" Helen said as they stepped into the turbo lift. "You saved my brother and I back on Vespae. I thought it was over for us until you showed up."

"Uh...you're welcome" he said nervously.

"So" Jason said after several seconds of silence, "What made you join the Grand army?"

Helen shrugged, "There was a couple good reasons. The main one being that at first my brother and I wanted revenge for what happened to our parents. After you took us here to Couriscant I was stuck in a med center for over a month because of my shoulder. In that time the two of us submitted applications to the military academy here on Couriscant. At first we thought it was going to be a full scale war between the Covenant and the Republic. But as it turns out the Republic fleet found nothing once they reached Vespae. To this day I still have some pretty hard feelings about what happened, but I learned after a while that revenge can't change what's happened, and I've learned to live with it."

"I'm sorry Helen" Jason said with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry I couldn't have done more to help you and your world"

Helen turned him around and looked him in the face, "You and I both know you did all you could. You're only one person. You Jedi maybe powerful but one of you alone wouldn't have had the power to take on a fleet of thirty massive ships."

Jason turned away and they fell back into silence. When the lift reached the dormitory level Jason hesitated before leaving.

"Helen, I need to know" he said, "why did you put together a team of soldiers, Sith and Jedi?"

Helen took a moment to think. "Because we have all fought the Covenant to some degree." she said slowly, "and we're going to need many different skills if we want any hope of completing this mission"

Jason shook his head, "I don't know what use I can be to you. I mean I spent eight years in exile because I was afraid I was falling to the dark side. I'm afraid if I take part in war again, then even a self imposed exile won't save me."

The lift's door began to close but Helen kept it open with her foot. "Jason it's human to want justice, just like it's human to want revenge. Most of us can't help it. But there is a difference between the two, and I can tell you aren't interested in revenge anymore, just like me. I learned revenge is pointless in the long run. If you are truly a Jedi you will fight the Covenant to protect people across the galaxy, you will fight for Justice and peace, just as a Jedi should."

At that note she let the doors shut and left Jason staring at the cool metal, mulling over Helen's words in his conflicted mind.

* * *

Kalleem walked through High Charity's private upper walkways, enjoying the sight of the Forerunner Dreadnought sitting at the city center. The thing was massive, towering over the internal living space of High Charity with unmatched beauty. It was Kalleem's fifth time aboard the Covenant Capital, and each time it was just as majestic as the last.

Kalleem finally saw his destination appear at the end of the walkway. He pushed forward, not wishing to waste any more time. He approached the large door leading into the Sanctum of the Hierarchs, unsure as to why the leaders of the Covenant called him to High Charity on such short notice.

As he walked up to door the Sangheilios guards positioned on either side eyed him wearily. Kalleem respected these warriors greatly, for they were hand picked by the Hierarchs themselves to provide them with security. Kalleem presented his credentials to the one on the right. The Sangheilios guard looked them over before standing to the side, letting him enter the sanctum.

The first thing he saw when he entered the massive room was the large red star which filled the main viewing window. Kalleem tore his eyes away and located the Hierarchs hovering around a large holoprojector at the center of the room, talking quietly to one another. Kalleem walked over and kneeled several feet away from the three San'Shyuum.

"You wished to speak with me Hierarchs."

All three of them turned at once, "ah yes, ship master Kalleem" the Prophet of Truth said with a smile. "How went the engagement in the Sapir sector?"

Kalleem gulped, "It was a complete success Hierarch. We are now one step closer to putting an end to these Heretics for good." Since the time Kalleem was raised to the rank of ship master, the Covenant military repurposed _An Unknown Truth_ and sent them to the front lines where they could better serve the Covenant. His most recent engagement with the humans in the Sapir sector was his twenty fifth battle so far.

The three Prophets exchanged looks of satisfaction. "Forgive us for taking you off the front lines ship master" croaked the Prophet of Mercy, "but there is an issue that demands your attention"

Kalleem bowed his head even lower, "Your will is law hierarchs. I trust I you and your wisdom. If you demand me to be removed from the fight against the humans then I will obey."

The Prophet of Truth clasped his hands together. "Rise ship master, we have much to discus." Kalleem did so and looked at the three San'Shyuum, waiting for them to continue.

"As you well remember ship master, you and your crew discovered a distant world harbouring Humans almost ten cycles ago" stated the Prophet of Regret, "you and I both saw the cleansing of the planet, believing its inhabitant hadn't spread to other worlds. It turns out, we were wrong.

Kalleem swelled up with anger. Why did these heretics have to complicate everything?

"One of our scout ships discovered an entire star system infested with humans. We believe they are apart of the same group of humans you and your crew came into contact with almost ten cycles ago. They call themselves the Republic" Mercy explained, "This star system was almost a hundred light years away from the one your ship discovered. This explains why we haven't had any contact with these more advanced heretics for such a long time."

Truth leaned back in his hover chair, "this is not all. Four years ago the Prophet of Regret and the previous Arbiter discovered a Forerunner temple buried in the ice on the planet the humans call _Harvest_" Truth gazed out the window at the red star, captivated by its beauty. "In that Temple we discovered much useful information. Some of which has remained undecipherable for a long time, until just recently."

Regret pressed a button on the holoprojector and it hummed to life, creating an image of a seemingly dead planet containing several reclamation glyphs and another Kalleem had never seen before.

"This world lies within the system containing these humans from the Republic" said Regret, "the information we gathered from the temple told us that there is a weapon of immense power. One that the Forerunners themselves used in the final years against the Flood infection."

Kalleem perked up at this news, "a Halo?" he wondered out loud.

"Unfortunately we don't believe so" said Mercy, "The Forerunners refer to this weapon as The Destroyer. It is a new term we have never come across before, which is why we don't believe it isn't connected to the Halos."

Kalleem looked at the hologram, "and you believe this weapon resides on this world?"

Truth shook his long head. "Again, no. The information from the temple told us that this world contains what the Forerunner's called a Silent Cartographer. In other words, a map room."

Kalleem nodded, "If we can locate this weapon the heretics would never stand a chance."

"That is why you are here Shipmaster" Truth continued, "Your old mentor fought these creatures, and you have seen what they can do. This makes you fairly valuable on this mission. We have already located the Silent Cartographer on the fourth planet of the system, and we want you to be the one to retrieve the location of the Destroyer."

Kalleem dipped his head, "I would be honoured to serve on such a mission."

"Then I'd suppose you would be even more honoured to be the one chosen to use this weapon in our campaign against the humans" said Truth with a smile. Kalleem stared wide eyed at the Prophet, barely believing he just heard.

"We would recommend you put together a small team. This way you won't be drawing as much attention to yourselves. When the time comes you will accompany Fleet master Rilka 'Dalisee." Truth stated "He will lead a full scale attack on several planets in this system including the one of interest to you and your team. His attacks will create the diversion you will need to find and retrieve the information inside the Silent Cartographer."

"I understand hierarchs. I will not fail." Kalleem promised. Amongst all of this exciting news he was fascinated by the fact that his ship would fly along side the fleet of Rilka 'Dalisee. This was an honour in itself since Rilka commanded one of the most renowned fleets in the entire Covenant, and was said to have never lost a battle.

"May the gods watch over you Shipmaster Kalleem" said the Prophet of Mercy, "may you strike down your enemies and bring glory to the Covenant."

Kalleem realized he had been dismissed. He bowed his head and turned his back on the leaders of the Covenant, his hand toying with his new energy sword strapped to his waist, eager to finally test it in battle against a worthy opponent.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Preparations for War

Cris stared through the viewport at the massive republic blockade slowly orbiting around the Sith home world of Korriban. He was finding it hard to believe that his sister wanted a Sith lord to accompany them on their mission. Cris thought it was insane teaming up with someone so dangerous, but Helen had said that there is a few reasons why this Sith should accompany them, and the fact that he was dangerous was one of them.

Either way, it still made him nervous thinking he would have to share a ship with one of the most evil beings in the galaxy.

As his ship neared the planet he began feeling clammy and cold. Cris realized this was probably an effect of the dark side. He read about Korriban back in the academy and learned that the planet had been ruled by the Sith for centuries, which is why the planet was so strong in the dark side of the force. Even people like Cris were said to feel the power ebbing from the planet.

All of this knowledge just made him even more nervous.

As he neared the blockade the hailing light flashed on. Cris flipped a switch and a voice crackled across the communicator.

"This is the Republic frigate _Defender_, please state your business in this system."

Cris spoke loud, trying to sound more confident than he really was, "_Defender_ my name is Cris Terrek. I am sure the Jedi council has already contacted you on this matter, but I am here to retrieve an important individual from the planet surface."

A moment of silence. "Yes, we have been notified. Your ship registration number seems to check out... You're clear to pass. Be careful down there kid."

"Will do" he said before disconnecting the line.

He pushed on the accelerator and the ship responded with a burst of speed. His small shuttle blew through the Republic blockade and into the Korriban atmosphere.

Several minutes later Cris broke through the planet cloud cover and found himself looking at a harsh and desolate surface. Cris wondered how any being could live on such a world. It was then Cris spotted the Sith academy at the end of a large valley, the valley of the dark lords.

Cris turned the steering yolk and his shuttle swivelled in the direction of Korriban's most populated location.

_Not exactly an ideal vacation spot,_ Cris thought with a little laugh.

As he drew closer to the academy a large hangar door opened on the side of the massive building. Cris took an uneasy breath before initiating the landing sequence.

The shuttle slowly entered the hangar and settled down on a dusty, grey floor. Cris glanced around the hangar and saw it was almost completely empty, save several speeder's, a gutted Sith bomber and a single robed man striding toward his ship.

Cris keyed open the small landing ramp and waited for the man to make his way aboard the ship. Cris heard the clack, clack, of boots on metal behind him.

Cris turned to greet the man, but quickly recoiled when he saw his face.

The Sith's face was contorted hideously by the dark side of the force. The man looked like the living dead, his skin was grey and cracked, his eyes a dark red, and his teeth pointed like a Kath hound's.

Cris had trouble finding his voice, "uh... Are you lord Trepid?"

The man nodded under his dark hood and took a seat beside him, staring patiently out the viewport.

"Okay" Cris said under his breath.

The shuttle lifted off the ground and headed back into the brown sky.

"So, uh, Lord Trepid. Why did you agree to join this team anyway?"

The Sith Leaned back in his seat, watching the clouds as they gained altitude.

"My brother" Trepid said at last, "He was killed by the creatures who had invaded your world."

Cris scratched his chin, "How did you know I was from Vespae?"

"Your feelings betray you" said Trepid, "And the fact that your Republic friend told me that she was assembling a team of people who have fought these "Covenant" before."

"I see." Cris said quietly, "So what happened to your brother?"

The Sith growled inhumanly, "I told you, he was killed by those creatures. That is why I will be able to bear being on a ship with _Jedi_," he spat the word with distaste, "so I may avenge my brother, Darth Conqar."

Cris nodded. His parent's were also killed by the Covenant during the invasion. But unlike Trepid he had given up on revenge a long time ago, realizing it left a person in more pain than they began with.

"I've waited ten years for this." Trepid mumbled.

"Well that's good I guess" said Cris as they flew past the blockade. "We're going to need your skills if we're going to pull this off."

"Then it is a good thing you chose me for this mission," said Trepid. "Because I doubt you could have found a more skilled Sith in the entire galaxy."

Cris raised his eyebrows, hoping his sister had made the right decision to bring a Sith along on such an important mission.

* * *

Kalleem stood in _An Unknown Truth's_ hangar bay, watching as his soldiers boarded the Phantom drop ship, which had become common place among the Covenant in the past few years. Currently his ship was en route to the Human star system along with the rest of Rilka 'Dalisee's legendary fleet, and was expected to arrive in the next several hours.

Back when his mentor had engaged the heretics of the Republic, his forces had command over many of the new prototype weapons designed by the Prophets. Unfortunately that technology still required some work and hadn't become as wide spread as the drop ships.

Among his small group of forces were several Jiralhanae. They were large, fairly primitive creatures. But where they failed with intelligence they easily compensated with their strength and savageness.

Commonly Sangheili and Jiralhanae despised one another. The Jiralhanae had no concept of honour and were regarded as inferior to the Sangheili. While Kalleem still believed this, he realized that the Jiralhanae could end up being fairly useful in his mission. Like Unggoy he could use them as cannon fodder to give him and his Sangheili brothers the time they would need to retrieve the location of the Destroyer.

Floating behind the large Jiralhanae was also two gaseous Huragok. Apparently these floating creatures were artificially created by the Forerunners before the activation of the Halos. They were primarily used to repair damaged equipment aboard Covenant battle ships. But it was also believed that the Prophets worked closely with these creatures in order to understand the Forerunner Technology they happened to discover. Kalleem knew he might need them to retrieve the data hidden inside the Silent Cartographer.

"I still don't understand why you decided to bring _them_ along." grunted Talis' Zunamee, nodding at the Jiralhanae.

The young Sangheili was Kalleem's first mate aboard _An Unknown Truth_. Several years ago the young Sangheili had applied to join his crew. Kalleem had accepted, yet he was unsure as to why someone would want to apply to _his_ ship. After all there were probably many other infamous Shipmasters in the Covenant willing to take aboard such a willing candidate. It was odd that Kalleem hadn't recognized it at first but eventually he discovered that Talis happened to be Salleema's son.

"I have my reasons" Kalleem told him, "I must tell you Talis. Before your father died he passed the mantle of Shipmaster to me. And now that I too must leave I have decided to pass it to you. You have risen through the ranks faster than any warrior I have ever met, and because of that you deserve this honour more than any other."

Talis's eyes sparkled with gratitude, "Thank you shipmaster, I am honoured."

Kalleem gripped Talis's shoulder, "it seems fitting does it not? That the ship your father commanded is now to be commanded by his own son."

"But shipmaster, won't you want command over your ship when you return?" Talis wondered.

Kalleem laughed, "To be honest the Hierarchs promised me that I would be the one to utilize the power of the _Destroyer _once it's recovered. I couldn't think of a greater honour could you?"

Talis gave a little laugh, "Probably not."

Kalleem stepped away to look at Talis, "I would recommend returning to the bridge, _Ship master. _After all someone has to run this ship and it sure isn't going to be me."

Talis smiled, "Good luck Ship master, may the gods lead you to victory."

_They surly will_, thought Kalleem.

* * *

Jason watched as the massive buildings blurred past the viewport, mesmerized by their many different designs. It was very early in the morning, and already the galactic capitol was bustling with activity.

"Why are we heading to the military base so early?" Jason asked his master who was driving the speeder, "I mean the fleet doesn't leave for another three hours."

Jason stifled a yawn as Keelu turned to look at her old apprentice, "Helen wants to assemble the team so we can go over the mission. We want to be prepared from the moment we arrive in the Abian system."

"Master you know better than anyone why I can't fight. I was corrupted by the dark side once, and if I ever fight again then nothing will be able to save me."

Keelu shook her head, "Jason I've known you since you were thirteen years old, and I can tell you aren't someone who could easily be corrupted by the dark side."

Jason looked away from his master, she just didn't understand. "But master I _was_ corrupted. I killed that Sangheili out of cold blood, and I used the power of the dark side to extract the information on the Covenant. I've been at risk ever since."

Keelu sighed, "Jason you had experienced the destruction of not only one but two worlds, which is pretty hard on someone, especially someone like you. The Sith Guerrilla war and the battle against the Covenant are events that no boy your age should have taken part in. You were angry and hurt and you couldn't help yourself, so in reality you weren't corrupted. But today you are no more at risk at falling to the dark side than I am. If you fight, you won't be lured to the dark side because you have resisted it's corruption before, you resisted the power it offered you and sought redemption in exile. You are afraid Jason, that's all, you're afraid of the pain war brings. But your not alone Jason."

Keelu finally set the speeder down on a landing platform outside the military base "Every person on this team has felt the pain of war, even me and the Sith Lord. And even though our hearts are heavy with loss we continue to fight, for peace, because we know we can't be selfish in a galaxy that needs people like us so desperately."

She stepped out of the speeder and walked toward a door at the end of the landing pad, leaving Jason in the speeder.

It seemed everyone knew what was wrong with him except himself. First Helen, then his own master. He knew they were both right. He was being selfish, and he was afraid of war and loss. But he just couldn't draw on the courage to rise to the occasion. He had risen to the occasion many times in the past, but why not now?

Shaking his head he climbed from the speeder and followed in Keelu's wake. He entered the base, soon realizing he had no idea where he was going. He stretched out with force and located Keelu's presence moving through the building.

He followed and eventually reached a conference room at the far end of the base. Once again, Jason hesitated before entering. He could just walk away and never have anything to do with this mission. _No_, he thought, _I may not fight but that doesn't mean I should abandon these people_. Feeling a little bit of his courage return, he keyed open the door.

All heads turned as the door opened. Helen stood at the head of the table, her body hunched over several data pads. She smiled sweetly at him, "I'm glad you decided to come Jason." it seemed he wasn't the only one who thought he might dessert.

He stepped into the room and found a seat next to his master. On the other side of the table Jason recognized one of the Sith he had encountered at the peace treaty signing, Darth Trepid if memory served him right. Sitting next to him was a man Jason figured was Helen's brother, after all the two did look remarkably alike.

The man smiled at Jason before reaching across the table.

"Cris Terrek" he stated. Jason clasped his hand briefly before pulling back.

"So Helen told me you were the guy who saved us." he said brightly. Jason nodded and looked away, slightly embarrassed.

Cris smiled "I know she already said this but thanks, we owe you one."

"Sure" said Jason.

Helen spared a look at Jason before opening her mouth.

"Okay. So as you all know the Republic will be sending a fleet to the Abian system in response to multiple reports of possible Covenant activity in the area."

Helen clicked on a small holoprojector and a small fuzzy 3D image of a Covenant ship appeared in the middle of the table.

"This image is the best one we have of a Covenant ship. Our objective is to enter and secure the navigation data aboard one of these ships. We have been able to identify what we think is a hangar bay around this area." Helen walked around the table and pointed at a fuzzy patch at the hologram's midsection.

"This will be our entry point" she continued, "We have no idea where the bridge might be on this thing, which is where you Jedi come in. You are going to have to use your powers of the force to help us find the bridge."

Keelu fiddled with one of her green Lekku. "Corporal we should be honest with you." she said "The force allows us to sense the emotions and presences of beings around us. It's not exactly capable of finding places. And even if we did know where it was we would still have to figure out how to navigate through the ship to get there."

Helen slumped slightly, "Well, I guess when the time comes we'll just have to improvise." She walked back to the head of the table, collecting together her data pads into a neat stack.

"If a battle happens we're counting on the Covenant to release some kind of star fighters to combat our forces, this will give us the opportunity we'll need to enter the ship and steal their navigation data."

"They're called Seraph fighters by the way" Jason interjected.

"Why do we even need their navigation data?" Trepid hissed.

"Because we have no idea where the Covenant are stationed." Explained Helen, "If we get a hold of their navigation data we'll know where their mining, trading, and shipyards are located. With our hands on that data we could essentially cripple their infrastructure and force them into surrender."

Cris pointed at the fuzzy hologram, "easier said than done sis. Those Covenant have some pretty advanced technology. They use weapons and ships that I've never even seen before. And I doubt they're just going to let us waltz right in there and take the data."

Helen nodded, "which is another reason why we need Jedi and Sith. You Jedi are powerful, but a Sith like Lord Trepid here wont hold back against the Covenant, he is efficient and ruthless, and exactly what we need if we want to make it through an entire Covenant ship alive."

"I'm flattered" Trepid said sarcastically.

"The fleet leaves in two hours. I'd recommend getting ready to leave in that time. We'll be taking the Republic capital ship _Righteous Justice _in launch bay sixteen. Any questions?" Helen looked at each of them, waiting.

"Why do we assume they're going to attack at all?" asked Cris.

Helen looked at her brother sadly, "Cris according to what we know the Covenant is attempting the wipe humans from the galaxy because we conflict with their religion. The Abian system's overall population is majorly made up of humans, so we're expecting they will make a move to wipe them out."

Keelu perked up at this, "we are evacuating the civilians from the populated worlds, right?"

"When we arrive in system the evacuations will begin. Everyone except those stubborn restoration workers on Abian IV will be temporarily relocated to the nearby Nakida system until the Covenant has been dealt with."

Jason was surprised. "I didn't know they were trying to restore Abian IV, when did this happen?"

"About a year after the peace treaty was signed." Keelu replied.

"A waste of time and resources if you ask me." Trepid said darkly, "that world is dead. Any attempt to reintroduce life forms to it has failed miserably."

"That's the problem with you Sith," Jason said through gritted teeth. "You give up too easily"

Trepid got to his feet, his hand moving toward his waist "Is that a challenge?"

"That's enough, from both of you" she said sternly. Trepid sank back into his seat, scowling at Helen.

"Does anyone else have any other questions?" Helen asked.

A pause.

"What...What should I be doing at the time of the mission?" Jason asked innocently.

Helen glanced at Trepid before replying, "The main fleet could use your insight. Like master Cath said you've been inside the mind of one of them. You know how they might think and react."

"Wait" said Trepid, "why isn't he coming?"

Jason lowered his eyes. "There have been several...complications concerning Jason here." Helen said. He stole a glance at her and saw only disappointment in her eyes. Essentially he was her hero, he had saved her life. It must have been heart breaking for her to see him like this.

"Complications eh?" said Trepid with a sinister smile, "What kind of complications, Jedi?"

"That's not any of your concern Sith" Jason mumbled.

"Heh, heh. Whatever. As long as I get a chance to cut me up some Covenant I could care less."

Helen scooped up the stack of data pads in her arms and began striding toward the door. She stopped by Jason's chair on the way out, "There's plenty of time to change your mind Jason" she whispered. Jason turned in his chair but found she had already left, her presence fading down hallway.

Jason was left wondering if she had actually spoken to him or if it was simply his imagination telling him that for the first time in ten years that not going to war could possibly be a mistake.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: First Strike

Jason silently walked through the crowded halls aboard the _Righteous Justice,_ his mind conflicted on an issue he had dealt with for ten years. He ruffled his hair, confused and angry. He knew he should fight, his new allies needed him now more than ever. His master was right, he was afraid. Afraid of war and the pain that comes with it, and the possibility that he might fall to the dark side. But it didn't make any sense why he was having trouble overcoming this fear.

Jason continued to walk, not even paying attention to where he was going. All of a sudden he crashed head long into another person, sending them both sprawling across the metal floor.

"Sorry, wasn't watching where I was going." Jason apologised, heaving himself into a sitting position.

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

Jason moved to help the officer up. Once on his feet, he was able to get a better look of the man.

"Keth!" Jason said, surprised to find his old friend in such a place, "what are you doing here?"

"Commanding this ship actually" he said with a smile, "it's good to see you Jason. Stang boy, you've grown up."

Jason returned the smile "it's good to see you too." Jason looked him up and down, noticing several pronounced changes in the man he knew, such as a the shaggy brown beard covering most of his lower face and a commander insignia pinned to his shoulder.

"So what have you been up to for the last ten years?" Keth asked, beginning to walk down the hall. Jason quickly fell into step.

"I...uh. I went into exile for a while." Jason said, avoiding Keth's eyes.

Keth looked at Jason, his eyes full of understanding, "I see. Did it have anything to do with... you know. What happened in the Outer rim?"

Jason nodded.

"In a way the same thing happened to me" said Keth, "I left the military for a few years to go to therapy. I'm glad to say it worked, because I was a wreck after her death." Jason easily understood who "her" was.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have saved her Keth." Jason blurted.

Keth gripped his shoulder, "Jason her death was something that couldn't have been prevented. In my two years of therapy I finally understood that death is a natural part of all life. And those we love never really leave us, so long as there's someone here to remember them."Jason was suddenly thinking of his sister. "I've accepted what has happened and I've tried to get on with my life, just as you should" said Keth.

Jason was surprised, "wait, did my master talk to you?"

Keth winked at him, "maybe briefly. The thing is Jason everyone is worried about you. You keep living in the past, wondering what you could have done to change things. But you just can't seem to understand that you did all you could during the Guerrilla war and on Vespae. Jason what happened ten years ago on that world is practically history now. Listen, your teammates need you. You're a Jedi for force sake. Do what you do best and complete this mission, an entire war could be riding on it."

Keth stepped away from Jason, giving him one last fleeting glance before leaving him to himself. Jason watched his old friend walk down the hallway until he turned the corner and out of sight. He groaned in confusion, cupping his hands over his eyes.

Voices filled his head, telling him to do this and that. But through all of his mental confusion a lone voice cut through the rest, speaking reason; _They all have a point Jason_, the voice said, _Keth, Helen, and Keelu all moved on, so stop feeling sorry for yourself you idiot and do what needs to be done!_

Jason opened his eyes and whirled around. For a second he thought he was hearing the voice of his sister, but knew that it was probably just his mind playing tricks on him again.

Either way he needed to make a decision, so he decided to try and obey. Jason closed his eyes and thought about his sister and Tana, about Vespae and Abian IV and with much difficulty he was able to let go of his fear and his regret, his anger and his pain. In that moment Jason felt the force swell up around him, comforting him and giving him strength. And in a way, telling him that things might turn out all right in the end of all this. For the first time in a while Jason was sure of what needed to be done, he only hoped he wasn't too late.

Jason opened his eyes to the bustling activity of the ship occurring all around him. They had arrived in the Abian system, and they weren't alone. Jason moved to a viewport on the other side of the hall and peered out into space.

Just as he expected, an enormous Covenant fleet was already wreaking havoc on a nearby mining asteroid; blasting it to pieces with their powerful plasma weapons. Jason whirled around and rushed over to several officers walking quickly down the hall.

"Excuse me; do you know where the main hangar bay is?" He asked.

"Head down the hall and take a left" said one of them, "There's a turbo lift there that should take you right down to the hangar on level three."

"Thanks" said hastily. He followed the officer's directions, and eventually reached the Hangar. Jason stepped out and was greeted with a familiar sight. The _Saurora _sat at the hangar's center, still as dumpy looking as ever. With a small smile Jason pushed forward through the dense crowd of people trying to prepare the ship's star fighters for launch.

He eventually caught sight of Helen and Cris, disconnecting fuel and electric lines from the Saurora as fast as they could. Jason slid up beside Helen who seemed to be having some trouble with one particularly stubborn electrical cable.

"Jason!" she exclaimed with surprise.

"Here let me help" he offered. She stepped away to let Jason get to the power line.

"See you forgot to disengage the magnetic ring, which was why it wasn't releasing before." Helen didn't reply. She just gaped at Jason, a small smile on her lips. Jason glanced at her and realized she was staring. He felt his face flush and he turned away.

When the cable finally came free with a fairly loud "thunk!" Jason turned to face Helen. He never realized before how pretty she actually was. Jason shook his head, remembering the lessons his master had taught him about attachment.

"um... I've been confused for a long time now." He stated nervously "And I think I'm better, so I decided I'm going to come with you."

Helen just laughed, "You really have a way with words Jason." He cracked a smile just as she reached up and kissed him softly on the cheek. "What was that?" Jason asked, looking Helen deep in the eyes. "Just a way of saying I'm glad you're coming." She said softly.

"Are you guys coming or what?" Yelled Cris from the boarding ramp.

Helen took Jason's hand in hers and pulled him toward the ramp. "Come on master Jedi" she said, still smiling despite their situation "we have a mission to complete."

* * *

Kalleem waited nervously in the crowded phantom drop ship. With several of the massive Jiralhanae and two Huragok aboard, it made room fairly scarce. He clicked on his communicator.

"Talis, I require a status update. Are we near our destination?"

The communicator crackled loudly before Talis's voice filled his ear. "Forgive me Ship master; we just dropped out of Slipspace. Fleet master Rilka just ordered for all ships to release their Seraph fighters and attack the incoming human fleet, I would recommend you join them, they will be able to mask your presence until you reach the planet."

Kalleem growled with satisfaction, "smart thinking Talis. I can already tell you will go far as a Shipmaster."

"Thank you Shipmaster. We are opening the Hangar bay doors now, may you go with honour." Talis cut the line and Kalleem was left proud to have chosen such a worthy successor. Seconds later Kalleem felt the Phantom lift off the ground and launch out into space.

"Ship master" said the drop ship pilot over the communicator, "we are now traveling with the Seraph fleet. We will be over the planet in several minutes."

"Good, the moment we are over the planet activate stealth systems and take us in." He said.

"Of course Ship master."

Kalleem clicked off the communicator and addressed the drop ship's passengers. "Expect anything upon landing. May those of us who die today, die with honour."

Kalleem hefted his plasma repeater in his arms and prepared himself. While most Sangheili favoured the smaller plasma rifle, Kalleem had found a soft spot for the heavier weapon, not to mention he was fairly talented with it when in his hands.

The minutes ticked away in his head until the pilot's voice ended the silence that had filled the troop bay. "We are entering the planet atmosphere, brace yourselves." As if on cue the entire drop ship began to shake uncontrollably. Several of the Jiralhanae who hadn't found something to hold on to began tumbling into one another. Eventually the shaking ceased and the Jiralhanae found their footing.

"Thirty seconds to drop point" announced the pilot, "good luck my brothers."

To Kalleem it seemed less than that. The bay doors swung open and like many times before he launched himself out. The gravity wasn't very powerful on this world and Kalleem fell slower than on previous missions.

Kalleem landed softly, his hoofs making shallow impressions in the grey dirt. He surveyed the landscape for any sign of enemy movement, but found nothing. What he did find however, was a small human settlement far off in the distance and allot of evidence that a battle had occurred here not long ago. Many craters and scorch marks pocketed the terrain, giving the planet a post-apocalyptic look. There was also something about the planet Kalleem couldn't put his finger on. While the planet's star hung high in the sky, it felt cold, dark and dead.

Kalleem ignored the feeling and turned to face his troops. With the enemy so close Kalleem knew they needed to move swiftly to avoid attention. Now that they had all placed foot on terra firma, the drop ship was no longer needed. Its troop bays shut silently and sped back up into the atmosphere. The seven Sangheili held their needle and plasma rifles ready, slowly scanning the horizon just as Kalleem had. The Jiralhanae on the other hand were getting excited, the thought of battle made them growl with anticipation. The two Huragok just floated at the center of them all, seeming not to care about their situation.

"Spread out, the entrance to the Silent Cartographer is near." He roared.

"Ship master." called one of the Jiralhanae as the group went to obey their orders, "I believe I found it."

Kalleem shortened the distance between him and the large alien in three long strides across the low gravity earth. The Jiralhanae pointed a sharp nailed finger to the side of an enormous crater, where a large silver archway sat wide open, as if inviting Kalleem and his troops inside.

"Indeed you have." Kalleem said to the Jiralhanae.

"Use your jump-packs." He said to his team, "they should have enough power to get us inside." Kalleem pointed to two of the Jiralhanae, "You two take the Huragok, we will no doubt need them to get what we came for." The two creatures snarled quietly but each reluctantly gripped one of the Huragoks' multiple tentacle appendages before activating their jump-packs.

Slowly but surly Kalleem's squad flew their way across the gaping crater and into the entrance to the Silent Cartographer, using up the last reserves of their packs to get inside. Kalleem examined the buried Forerunner construct, amazed that he, a lowly Sangheili warrior, was standing in a place where his gods had once stood almost a hundred thousand cycles ago.

Kalleem was quick to snap out of his imagination and refocus on the mission. Glancing around, he saw his entire team had been captivated by the beauty of the structure around them just as he had. "Come." He said to his team, "there will be plenty of time to admire this structure once we have uncovered the location of the Destroyer"

There were several replies of "yes Ship master" but the rest were still stunned, unable to believe that they were standing in a creation of their gods. Kalleem lead the way, eager to find the Destroyer and have the chance to wield its awesome power against the enemies of the Covenant.

* * *

"So why are we in _this _bucket of bolts again?" Jason asked Helen as the Saurora rocketed out of the _Righteous Justice's _main hangar. He knew that it was a highly advanced infiltrator ship but in the span of ten years he could have bet that the Republic would have designed something a little more up to date.

"This ship was refitted with the latest stealth technology credits could buy." Helen explained from the co-pilot's seat. "The hull was replaced with grade A durasteel plating, and a deflector shield that could stop a direct shot from a Republic Capital ship."

Helen hoped it would impress Jason, but it seems he was still a little unsure, "and you think this will be enough to get us into a Covenant ship?" He wondered.

"We sure hope so" said Cris as he flew the _Saurora _beside the _Righteous Justice_, "The Republic military has been expecting this attack for ten years, so they made sure this thing was ready to do its job the moment the Covenant reappeared."

Helen gazed out of the forward viewport. Even at this distance she could see the battle was already underway. She watched awe struck as Covenant and Republic ships traded shots, blowing large chunks out of one another.

"I'm activating the stealth systems" said Cris, "but just in case they spot us visually I want someone up on the gun turret."

"I've got it," said Jason. He leapt out of the navigation chair and stalked off down the hall. Trepid and Keelu left their own seats to get a better look of the battle now going on around them.

Cris weaved the _Saurora _around Covenant and Republic cruisers, avoiding plasma and laser fire coming from all sides. It was now she could get a good look at the Covenant ships in action. Each shot the Republic took on the Covenant was stopped by their powerful shields; at least until they flashed and disappeared, giving the Republic A-wings the chance they needed to finish them off.

"Stang," Cris cursed, he activated the ship's internal comms and connected to the gun turret. "Jason I think a couple of Seraph fighters spotted us, keep an eye out."

"Will do." Jason said from the gun turret.

"Where are they?" Helen asked, searching the battle around them. Helen got her answer when blue flashes filled the view screen, making her jump in shock. The Saurora shook slightly with each impact.

"Stang! Jason, take them out! Everyone else, hang on, I'm going to try and loose them!" Cris jerked the yolk and the ship responded with a jerk. The _Saurora _dodged around debris and ships alike, but the Seraph fighters were still hot on their tail, firing bright blue plasma at the _Saurora's _rear engine.

In the gun turret, Jason whirled the gun around to face the incoming fighters. Jason hesitated briefly, but then remembered that this was why he was here. Taking a deep breath he pulled the trigger. Two of the fighters flashed bright blue as his shots smashed into their shields. Jason continued to grip the trigger tightly and watched as each of the fighters' shield winked out from existence.

As he fired, Jason felt determined. But this determination had nothing to do with revenge. There were still civilians on the nearby planets, and even if he was just fighting a couple lone fighters, he was still doing his job to protect them.

Before he could finish them off Cris suddenly spun the _Saurora _into a quick corkscrew as he flew around a half destroyed Covenant ship. Jason smacked the bulkhead in frustration but grabbed the controls as the Seraphs came back into view. He pulled the trigger, expecting all six of them to go down in a fiery flash, but was only rewarded with two. The rest had recharged their shield and were coming back for more.

"Cris, I can't keep this up forever!" Jason yelled into his head set.

"I know Jason, I'm looking for a ship with an open hangar, but as you can see they're all closed! We missed our opportunity window!"

Jason blew away another fighter, "then let's make our own opening. Use the main laser canons; they should be able to punch a hole right through their hull."

In the cockpit Helen heard Jason's suggestion and immediately activated the cannon. "Cris give me a target." She told her brother as she got comfortable with the fairly simple controls.

"I'll do my best" he said with a huff.

Trepid and Keelu just sat there, gripping their armrests for dear life. "You people are insane." Trepid hissed.

Cris piloted the _Saurora _between two converging cruisers, barely making it through as the ships crashed violently into one another, pulverizing the rest of their pursuers in the process.

Jason slumped behind the controls of the gun turret, relieved that they survived. _We just started; don't let your guard down _he thought. He crawled out of the turret, his hands slipping on the guard rail from his sweaty palms. He quickly made his way to the cockpit, where Cris was flying the _Saurora _around a smaller Covenant vessel. He walked over and leaned over the back of Helen's seat, watching as she found a seemingly weaker spot on the ship's hull.

"You got the shot?" Cris asked his sister.

Helen nodded, her eyes watching the screen with intense concentration. Her finger hovered over the trigger, waiting for Cris to get them closer. Helen jabbed down with her thumb and the laser canons boomed loudly. But the shots didn't even come close to the target; it seems they all forgot the Covenant ships have incredibly powerful shields.

"Stang!" Cris yelled as the enemy ship flared.

"Wait a second" said Keelu, climbing out of her chair, "their shields may be powerful, but unlike our shields, theirs sit above their weapons. So they would need to lower them before firing."

Jason looked out at the Covenant cruiser. A Republic ship was moving in to engage, and he could tell the Covenant ship was about to attack from the increasingly bright weapons covering its flank. Before it fired the entire cruiser flashed faster than the eye could see, Jason's only advantage was his force abilities heightened his senses, allowing him to watch the ship's shields go down.

"She's right" Jason assured, "Cris bring us around for another shot. Helen, wait for my mark before you fire."

Both of them nodded in unison. Cris did as he was told and moved the _Saurora _into a position where they were aiming directly at the side of the ship. Jason watched the plasma canons, waiting for them to begin glowing their deadly purple and blue.

"Jason we're running out of room, I might need to come around again." Cris stated.

Jason shook his head and pointed to a temperature gauge, "no, this could be our only shot. Our stealth systems are overheating and if we use up too much time the system will shut down completely and that ship will know we're here."

Cris groaned doubtfully, "you better be right, because at the rate we're going, we're going to end up flattened on the side of this thing."

Jason ignored him and continued to watch the ship, waiting. Suddenly the ship's weapons began to glow brighter and brighter. "Get ready." He said to Helen. The weapons glowed until another quick flash of light covered the ship, signalling their deactivated shields.

"FIRE!"

Helen pressed the trigger and once again the sound of the cannon filled the cockpit. They were close the ship now, real close. Jason grinned as the laser bolts blew a single large hole in the ship's hull. The _Saurora _sped inside and Cris jammed the thrusters into reverse, slowing them down before they could crash.

"Good luck you guys" said Cris, "there's a couple life support suits in the cargo bay, you might need them."

Jason looked at Cris with gratitude, "thanks, and nice flying by the way."

The three force users left the cockpit, leaving Helen alone with her brother. They both got up and looked at each other. "I'm really proud of you, Cris" she said, "You did great back there."

He smiled sadly, "thanks. Helen there's a chance this could be the last time we see each other, and I just want you to know that I love you, and that you should look after yourself in there."

Helen walked up and gave her brother a tight hug, "thanks little bro, I love you too. When the plasma guns fire, you get yourself out of here as fast as you can. Go back to the _Righteous Justice_ and stay there until we call you."

"Sure thing." He agreed, "I'll see you then."

Helen separated from her brother and made her way to the cargo bay, sad and somewhat satisfied that she was able to say goodbye to her brother in the case that one of them didn't survive this seemingly impossible mission.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Infiltrated

Kalleem was wondering just how big this structure actually was. It was enormous. But with the Jiralhanae guarding the main entrance, he and his Sangheili brothers were able to cover more ground at a more reasonable pace.

He looked at the Huragok. For the last few hundred meters they had become fairly agitated. They were now leading the group with increasing curiosity.

The squad turned a corner before the Huragok bolted down the hallway, their gas bladders pushing them through the stale air.

Kalleem groaned as he ran after them, hoping whatever got them so riled had something to do with their mission. Eventually the hallway ended with a small door, the Huragok nowhere to be seen.

Kalleem retrieved his plasma repeater on his back and approached the door with caution, His squad members doing the same behind him.

The doors slid open with a hiss and Kalleem stuck his repeater inside, ready for anything. He relaxed his grip on his weapon as the two Huragok floated into view, their tentacles fiddling with a large holographic keyboard.

"Stay here" he said to his troops. Kalleem stepped inside and the door slid shut behind him.

The room itself wasn't much to look at, but hovering over a pedestal at the center of the room was a massive hologram showing a map of the entire galaxy. _The Silent Cartographer_, Kalleem thought in amazement.

He stepped up to examine a small red circle highlighting a star system on the far side of the galaxy. Kalleem wondered if this was where the _Destroyer _resided.

The hologram suddenly changed in correspondence with the Huragoks' actions with the keyboard. It now showed a single star system with three rocky planets orbiting two bright yellow stars. The second planet was noticeably different with a surface covered in brown and a bright red circle surrounding it.

"Do you have the co-ordinates?" Kalleem asked the Huragok. One of them bleeped a response which Kalleem interpreted as a "yes."

"Come" he said to the two floating aliens, "We must deliver this information to the Hierarchs."

Slightly disappointed to have not been able to explore the Cartographer's records further, the Huragok reluctantly followed Kalleem from the map room. They stepped through the ancient door and Kalleem faced his Sangheili comrades.

"Do we have the location Shipmaster?" asked one of them.

Kalleem nodded and smiled, "we have what we came for" he said simply. Kalleem led the way back down the hall towards their exit. They turned a corner as Kalleem's comm. unit began to beep.

"What is it?" he growled into his mike.

"Shipmaster, we may have a problem." Replied one of the Jiralhanae stationed at the structure's entrance.

"What kind of problem?"

The Jiralhanae sounded uneasy. "Shipmaster the fight has moved to the surface of this world. The sky is filled with ships and I can hear the sounds of battle beyond the crater. Should I call for extraction?"

Kalleem thought this over, remembering that the Prophets had said this would be apart of the distraction they would require. "Yes," he told the Jiralhanae, "we should be there by the time the drop ship arrives."

Now that he had the location of the _Destroyer _in his hands, Kalleem was almost hoping _not_ to come face to face with any of the heretics. After all, if so much as a single projectile punctured the Huragoks' skin, the buoyant gasses which made up their interior could easily catch fire and ruin his chances of ever even seeing the great weapon created by the gods.

* * *

Jason jumped from the _Saurora's _ramp and landed heavily inside one of the partially destroyed hallways, surprised that the artificial gravity was still functioning in this area of the ship. He warned the others of this as he unclipped his light sabre for the first time in ages. It felt comfortable and familiar in his hand, giving him confidence even in enemy territory. He looked down the purple hallway and saw a flower shaped door leading into the heart of the ship. Out side it sat two dead Kig-Yar, their eyes gazing blankly into space.

Once Helen landed in the hall with the rest of them, Cris flew the _Saurora _out through the hole and back into the space battle raging outside. Silently the four of them began walking down the eerie purple hallway.

"Any ideas how we're going to get it open?" Helen wondered as they neared the door.

"Hold onto something." Trepid said dryly. He waved his hand and the door hissed open, air rushing from the ship and out into space. With difficulty the group was able to pull themselves through the doorway before Trepid shut the door behind them with the force. They all stashed their oxygen masks in Helen's bag, knowing they might need them later.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Keelu asked Trepid as he led them further into the ship.

"Not exactly no." he growled

The four of them walked through door after door, not encountering any of the ship's occupants. Jason was beginning to believe the Covenant abandoned the ship, but as they marched through another door, Jason sensed someone's presence nearby. He looked around and saw the air shimmer in front of his face. Jason ducked just as a Sangheili's energy sword soared over his head and struck the bulkhead behind him in a shower of sparks.

He ignited his light sabre and sliced upward, cutting open the Sangheili's torso. It was an ambush. Invisible Sangheili rushed at them from both sides, hemming them in. Jason whirled around to help Helen protect the rear as Trepid and Keelu handled the front. Helen's blaster rifle spat bolts into a seemingly empty hallway, causing the occasional Sangheili to materialize out of thin air clutching at their wounds.

Jason dodged and countered energy sword attacks, protecting Helen from their advances. He held out his hand and force pushed all of the Sangheili down the hall, causing their stealth fields to flash and disappear. Jason moved in and took out the downed creatures.

With their rear secure, Jason and Helen turned to assist Keelu and Trepid on the front, but came up short when they saw Trepid unleashing a lightning storm upon their enemies. As Trepid stemmed the flow of force lightning, the rest of them got a chance to catch their breath. Jason stretched out with the force, searching for any more of the Covenant coming their way.

He let out a weary breath as he sensed Covenant converging on them from what felt like every direction. But he realized there was one group of Covenant who weren't moving at all. _The bridge_, Jason realized wide eyed. And it was close, really close.

"I think I know where the bridge is." he said suddenly.

The three of them just stared at him with unsure looks. "How do you know?" Trepid asked, still uneasy about trusting a Jedi.

"Almost everyone on this ship is moving toward us" he explained "but there's a group that isn't, so I figure it might be the bridge since they would be commanding the ship."

"We have no other lead to go on" Helen reasoned, "I say we do it." Helen flashed Jason a smile, making his face flush. Keelu nodded at her old apprentice, "I trust your judgment Jason." Jason smiled at his master, thankful she was so trusting at a time like this.

Trepid eyed him wearily "fine Jedi, lead the way. Just don't get us killed."

Jason rolled his eyes and brushed past him. He made it around the next corner before the air filled with plasma. The three of them blocked most of the shots, letting Helen fire her rifle without worrying about getting hit.

The five Unggoy didn't even run for cover as Helen fired shot after shot at them, bowling them over until one by one they crumpled to the ground. Jason let his blade hang at his side as he stretched out with the force, searching for the Bridge's occupants. When he found what he was looking for through the force, he opened his eyes and looked at his team.

"I think the bridge is on the other side of that wall." he said pointing behind the dead Unggoy. Trepid raised his blood red light sabre and stepped up to the wall, kicking away bodies as he went. The Sith put his grey hand on the purple metal.

"You're right about one thing Jedi" He said with his back turned, "There's Covenant on the other side, and there's only one way to get to them." He jabbed his blade into the wall and drew a smouldering yellow circle in the metal.

"Hurry Trepid" urged Keelu, "I can sense more of them coming behind us."

Trepid ignored the Jedi master and finished slicing his way into the metal. He stepped back and lashed out with his foot. The metal circle popped inward to reveal a spacious room, filled with bright blue terminals and over a dozen large Sangheili warriors staring directly at them.

With a maniacal smile, Trepid launched himself through the hole and into the bridge, slashing and cutting at his surprised enemies. Jason, Keelu and Helen were slower to enter but quickly joined the fray.

Helen slid herself behind a large terminal, firing her rifle at unsuspecting victims. Unlike the stealth Sangheili, these Covenant soldiers put up a much better fight. But either way it was evident that the Sangheili couldn't stand a chance against two Jedi, a Sith and an expert marksman like Helen.

Several Unggoy eventually tumbled through Trepid's makeshift door before realizing who they were up against. Some of them were able to scramble back out the hole, but the rest weren't so lucky when faced with Trepid's crimson light sabre.

After dispatching two of them, Jason turned his sights on their leader. A red armoured Sangheili standing atop a rounded chair, hefting a large blue grenade launcher in his muscular arms. Jason followed the creature's gaze and came to rest on Helen.

_No_, he screamed in his head. In five long strides he was beside the Sangheili, his blue blade spinning in his hand. He brought his light sabre down and sliced the launcher in half.

The Sangheili dropped the mangled weapon and rolled away from Jason, drawing his energy sword as he went. Jason ran after him and brought his sabre down. Their blades clashed in a flurry of sparks, temporarily blinding Jason. The Sangheili pushed and sent a disoriented Jason sprawling across the floor.

Jason was back on his feet in an instant, blocking the Sangheili's quick slashes and jabs. Jason rolled backwards, dodging the alien's downward slash.

As the Sangheili stepped closer for another slash, Jason called on the force and jumped over the head of the seven foot Sangheili. The alien was no where near fast enough to react. Jason hadn't even hit the ground when his blade found its targets.

The light sabre cut cleanly through both of the Sangheili's upper thighs, sending the creature crashing to the ground in agonizing pain.

Jason looked around him and saw his comrades were finishing up on their ends as well. He was about to put the Sangheili out of it's misery before Helen called out to him.

"Jason, wait! We might need him to get the navigation data."

Jason looked down at his opponent, feeling sorry for him in some ways. He shut off his light sabre and stepped away from the alien.

"There's no way he will co-operate" he explained to Helen, "someone might need to go inside his mind to get what we need."

Helen looked around until she found Trepid turning one of the Sangheili's deactivated energy swords in his hands, examining its odd markings. "Trepid, we need to get the location of the navigation terminal out of him. Would you..."

"Would I do the honours?" he cut in, smiling darkly with his sharp pointed teeth, "gladly."

Trepid stepped up and roughly grabbed the Sangheili's armour, forcing him to look into his face.

"I know you understand me Sangheili, so why don't you tell me where the navigation terminal is before I decide to cut you open and give myself a little lesson on Sangheili biology."

The alien leader laughed in Trepid's face in the midst of his pain. "Arrogant heretic" It said in a thickly accented Galactic basic, "you believe your threats can force me to assist you? No, I would rather die with honour than assist you _humans_."

Trepid smiled at the Sangheili, "I hoped you would say that."

The Sith lord called on the dark side of the force and using it's awesome power he tunnelled into the mind of the helpless alien in front of him. The Sangheili roared with pain, struggling to keep Trepid from the knowledge he sought. At last Trepid found what he was looking for at the back of the creature's mind, but along the way he discovered another bit of information he found oddly intriguing.

Trepid found knowledge that a squad of elite Covenant troops had been dispatched to the surface of one of the system's planets for a high priority mission. Trepid dug further and discovered it was the fourth planet in the system, Abian IV. The Covenant was looking for something on the planet surface, something important.

By now Trepid's sadistic smile had been wiped off his face, only to be replaced with a serious frown. With this in mind Trepid slackened his control on the force and left the Sangheili's mind. The Sith reactivated his light sabre and quickly ended the life of the tormented alien.

"Did you get the information we need?"

Trepid turned to face the people that were once his enemies. "yes, and something else" he hissed, "The Covenant are looking for something on Abian IV."

"What?" Helen asked the Sith.

Trepid shook head angrily, "I don't know, this alien didn't know much about the mission except for the fact that it was happening on Abian IV's surface.

The room was silent for brief moment as they all thought about this.

"Maybe a left over artefact from the Sith Empire?" Keelu wondered out loud, "the Republic may not have recovered them all back at the end of the Guerrilla war."

Again Trepid shook his head, "I was in that engagement and I could clearly sense each and every one of the artefacts hidden on the world, even from space. I can assure you the Republic found and destroyed them all."

Out of nowhere the entire ship shuddered and rocked beneath their feet. Seconds later Helen's comlink beeped. She answered and was greeted by Cris's worried face.

"Sorry Helen but I decided ignore your suggestion about going back to the _Justice._ Listen a Republic cruiser just attacked your ship before I could call him off. I think they destroyed the ship's stabilizers because it looks like you're falling into Abian IV's atmosphere."

"Is there any way you could come in and get us?" Helen asked her brother.

"No, not at the rate you're descending at. It would be too risky to try it. We could all end up crashing and burning in the planet's atmosphere."

Helen took a deep breath, "ok, I guess you should come and pick up the data after the crash, it would be the best plan of action to work with."

Cris's hologram swallowed loudly, "you're saying that like you know you won't survive."

Helen's eyes began to tear, "if we're falling into the atmosphere then I doubt we will. Goodbye Cris, please don't be a hero and try to save us. If we somehow make it out of this I'll contact you." she clicked another button and Cris's hologram disappeared, leaving them in silence as their minds grasped the idea that this could be the end for them.

"What a way to die." Trepid shamefully, "one of the galaxy's most powerful Sith killed in a star ship crash. That will be one for the textbooks."

"Lord Trepid which terminal has the navigation data on it?" Helen asked the Sith, wiping away her tears.

"That one." Said Trepid, pointing to a half destroyed terminal on the far side of the bridge. "I think it got hit by some stray plasma bolts in the fight." he explained.

No one said anything for a good five seconds.

Helen lowered her eyes and sighed loudly, "great, we came all this way for nothing and now we're going to blow up along with this force forsaken ship."

Jason was silent; he looked around at their surroundings, an idea forming in his head.

"This is a ship." He said to them.

"Thanks for stating the obvious" said Trepid.

Jason shook his head, "no, you're not getting it. We're in a ship. So maybe we can figure out how to fly this thing before it crashes?"

Keelu was looking very uneasy about this idea. "Jason, I think this thing is done for, I doubt we'll be able to figure out how to fly it by the time we hit the planet's atmosphere."

Jason frowned; he thought this over and came up with an even simpler plan.

"You're right, we don't need to fly it, just figure out how to land it without blowing ourselves to pieces." He looked around at unsure faces, knowing that, yes it was an insane idea. But what other choice did they have?

Subtly at first, the ship began to shake, and this time it had nothing to do with an attacking Republic ship. They had begun entering Abian IV's atmosphere, and they were running out of time.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Survivors and Escapees

The shaking only continued to get worst as the Covenant cruiser plummeted toward the planet below. Jason and the others were fighting to keep their balance aboard a rumbling bridge. Jason ran over to a consol and sat in the oddly shaped chair, trying to get an understanding of what was displayed on the screen. It took several seconds but eventually he understood that he was looking at the ship's orientation in comparison to the planet.

"I think I got it!" he yelled over the roar resonating throughout the ship. Helen tumbled over and gripped the back of his chair, heaving herself back onto her feet.

"What now?" she yelled in his ear. Jason looked down at the blue holographic controls. There were two small pointed circles and a big vertical line sitting in the middle of the keyboard. Jason looked around but found no other controls or hints as to what the line and circles did, but he had a hunch he knew what they were for.

He looked at the display of the ship on the screen. It was beginning to aim down toward the planet surface. Jason reached out with his hand and slid it up the line. Jason was surprised to see a reaction so quickly. The entire bridge shook uncontrollably while the monitor showed the ship was starting to level out. He slid his hand back down the line and the ship went back to how it was before.

"Why did you put it back?" yelled Helen.

"If we kept it like that the friction would have ripped the ship apart!" He responded loudly, "When we get closer to the surface I'll pull the ship out of the dive so the rear of the ship will take most of the impact." _Flying 101_ he thought with a grim smile.

Jason watched the ship displayed on the screen. It was starting to tip slightly on its right flank. Jason put his hand on one of the circles and gave it a slight turn counter clockwise. Once again the ship responded very quickly and reoriented it self as it fell through the atmosphere. Helen glanced around the shaking bridge, spotting Keelu and Trepid sitting rigid in two of the weirdly shaped Sangheili chairs.

Helen pointed to several symbols in the top left hand corner of the screen, "altitude and speed?" she asked in his ear.

Jason shrugged, honestly having no idea. The two of them watched as one group of numbers increased while another decreased, answering Helen's question. Jason held his hand over the blue line while slightly adjusting the ship's roll, waiting until the decreasing alien numbers dropped to three digits. When they did another wave of adrenaline shot through his already agitated body.

"Hang on!" he yelled to the others as he slid his hand up the blue line. The shaking got even worse, nearly throwing Helen from the back of Jason's chair. She reached over and gripped his hand. Jason held her close as the monitor showed the ship pulling its nose upward. The air now felt hot and sticky, a by-product of the intense friction heating the underbelly of the ship.

Helen held onto Jason for dear life, hoping this moment wasn't going to be her last. She looked into Jason's rugged face and did something she knew she would never regret. She leaned in close and kissed him. Jason was taken by surprise, but chose not to resist and kissed her back passionately. He had never experienced something so wondrous in his entire life. Even in their last moments, he wanted nothing more than to be with Helen. And then, as Jason kissed Helen, believing their lives were over, they hit Abian IV's dusty surface.

The collision was explosive. It threw Jason and Helen clear from the chair. He called on the force and created a shield around them both, protecting them as the crash sent them soaring across the bridge and into the walls. Jason and Helen closed their eyes, hoping on hope that the force shield would hold.

And then, as suddenly as it began, all was quiet. Jason opened his eyes and peered into Helen's dark blue eyes, hardly believing they did it. They survived. For what seemed like a blissful eternity, they laid there, still wound in each other's embrace.

"I've never felt like this before." He whispered to her.

She smiled knowingly, "maybe because you've never fallen in love before." She whispered back. She leaned up and gave him another kiss, but pulled away suddenly and looked at him dismally.

"What is it?" he asked.

She shook her head and smiled sadly, "it won't work will it?"

Jason was confused, "What won't?"

Helen rolled her eyes, "you know us. Together. I mean don't the Jedi have rules against falling in love?"

Jason slumped, "yeah, they do."

"What are we going to do?" she wondered.

Jason shook his head, "I don't know. We'll figure this out later. Come on, let's find the others." The two of them stood up slowly, each looking around at the ruined bridge with curiosity. It seemed the ship flipped on its side during crash, seeing as the floor of the bridge was now the wall.

"Nice driving." Helen teased.

Jason laughed, "Hey give me some credit here. I landed a ship I've only ever seen from a distance. That takes some skill, even for a Jedi."

Helen smiled as she cupped her hands around her mouth, "master Keelu! Lord Trepid! Are you two ok?"

"Ugh" groaned Trepid from across the room "and I thought you Jedi were supposed to be graceful." Jason waited, but no sound from Keelu came. He was starting to get worried.

"Master?" he called out.

"Here" called a strained voice near Trepid. Jason ran over with Helen close at his heels. When he found his master amid the wreckage of a terminal he wasn't sure whether to be happy or worried. His master had survived the crash, but she was seriously injured. Her body was twisted in an odd position, her spine clearly broken.

"Master I'm going to have to ask you not to move ok?" he asked her, "Now can you wiggle your toes?"

His old master grinned, "Jason I know I'm paralyzed. The best thing for you to do is get out of here. Send help if you can but you must stop that Covenant squad from finding what is on this planet."

Jason got down and kneeled beside his master, tears filling his eyes. "The force has shown me a glimpse of the future" she told him, "and if the Covenant find what their looking for, then countless humans across the galaxy will be wiped out. Please Jason; the fate of your species could rest with you."

"I'm not leaving you here." he said stubbornly.

"Jason, if you try to move me you might only make the injury worse" she insisted, "take Trepid and Helen and stop those Covenant. I sense they will leave the planet soon, you must hurry."

"What about you? We can't just leave you here like this." Helen said from behind Jason.

"Call for an emergency team, I'll be fine once they get here."

Jason began to fidget, "master, I..."

Keelu looked at him sternly, "Jason I'm not going to argue with you. Go, now."

Helen gripped his arm softly, "come on Jason, she's right we need to get out of here."

Without a word Jason stood up and followed. They walked away from Keelu and rejoined Trepid below his hole which was now on the roof. They all stared up at the bright sunlight streaming through the hole, eager to make this cruiser a distant memory.

"Helen don't move ok? I'm going to levitate you up to the hole." Jason held out his hand and with the force he was able to slowly lift Helen up towards the hole. Once she pulled herself inside she waved her hand at them, signalling the all clear. The two force users then force jumped up through the hole, joining Helen outside.

The three of them looked around, finding that the side of the ship had somehow been ripped clean off in the crash. Helen whipped out her comlink and dialled up Cris. He answered immediately, sounding frantic.

"Helen, are you ok? I saw the crash from orbit, it was brutal. Please tell me you're ok."

"I'm fine Cris, but Keelu wasn't so lucky. We think her spine is broken, can you call for an emergency crew?"

Cris's rubbed his neck nervously, "it'll be a bit difficult. The space battle is still going on up here, not to mention the Covenant has deployed ground forces on Abian IV and V."

"Just do what you can" she told her brother.

"Sure thing, did you guys get the data?"

Jason and Helen shared a glance. "No, the terminal where it was stored was destroyed."

Cris sighed gloomily, "So mission failed then. Hopefully we'll get it next time. Right now I'm on my way to pick you guys up and take you back..."

"Actually Cris" she interrupted, "there's one more thing we need to take care of. Don't ask what, I'll tell you once you get here."

Cris was curious, but chose not to pester his sister. "Sure thing, see you soon."

The hologram winked out and Helen stashed the comlink back in her pocket. "So" she said, turning to face the other two, "how're going to find those Covenant?"

"The same way we found the bridge" said Trepid, "we use the force."

* * *

Kalleem winced in the harsh sunlight as he and his squad emerged from the Forerunner structure. He blinked a few times and stared down into the crater's center where the Jiralhanae stood around their Phantom drop ship, watching the crater's edge far above them.

He followed their gazes and found himself staring at bright lights flashing just beyond the crater. This was getting too close for comfort. Kalleem knew these heretics had advanced technology, but he didn't expect them to survive this long against Rilka's powerful fleet.

"Hurry" Kalleem urged his troops, "get the Huragok aboard the phantom before the battle gets any closer." He leapt off the ancient Forerunner floor and fell towards the downward slope of the crater. Together, Kalleem and his squad slid down the dusty hill toward the hovering drop ship.

Kalleem hoped his luck would hold out. He watched impatiently as one after the other, the Huragok boarded the phantom. He was slightly more relieved that they were safely aboard, but they weren't done yet.

Then as if his worst nightmares had come true, one of the humans appeared at the top of the crater, pointing down at him and his squad as they attempted to escape. Kalleem watched with silent dread as one human soon became ten, then twenty, then far more than he could count.

"Heretics!" Kalleem roared, "Kill them all!"

He aimed his repeater at the white armoured humans and pulled the trigger. Each bolt of plasma found a target, knocking the humans off their feet as they slid down the crater. Behind him, Sangheili and Jiralhanae temporarily forgot their differences and fought side by side, firing spiker and needle rifles at their common foes.

Kalleem kept firing, but more and more of the heretics continued to file down the crater towards them. If they didn't leave now then the _Destroyer _would never be found, but running from battle was the most dishonourable thing a Sangheili could do.

The humans were practically on top of them now. Two of the humans were coming at him from the right, each carrying small metal knives. Kalleem flipped his repeater on to his back and fetched his new energy sword resting on his waist.

The sword erupted from the hilt in a flurry of light. But this energy sword was no where similar to a common blade. This sword did have two blades like normal energy swords, but one of them suck out parallel to the hilt while the other curved up from the bottom like a hand guard. Just looking at it filled him with confidence.

After his mentor's death, Kalleem risked heresy and had a new sword built by an underground group of engineers. They gladly created a sword based on the one Salleema had fought against ten cycles ago. It had taken Kalleem a while to get used to the upward blade, but eventually he became very skilled with it in private training.

The humans came at him surprisingly fast, their knives aiming for his armoured chest. Kalleem nimbly dodged their knives, his new blade spinning in his hand. He turned his blade upside down and plunged it into the shoulder of the one on the right. The human yelled with agony as Kalleem pushed the blade deeper into his torso.

The other human jumped at him with his knife but Kalleem's shields easily took the brunt of the attack. Kalleem struck out with his foot, sending the other human reeling with several broken bones. He pulled the sword from the human and stood surveying the fight. They were losing horribly. These first two humans were just the start. Many more continued to surge forward from behind, and for the first time in his life he was considering escaping with what he had while he could.

Kalleem knew he would be dishonoured and shamed but this was an impossible fight. Then a thought struck him. There was no way anyone could shame him if there was no witnesses. With a dark smile spread across his mandibles, Kalleem turned and ran towards the phantom, firing his repeater behind him as he went. His comrades looked at him with curiosity as he ran by, but quickly refocused on the battle at hand.

When he reached the ship he jumped into the drop Shute and was swiftly lifted into the troop bay where the two Huragok waited patiently. Kalleem brushed pass them and keyed open the cockpit and stepped inside. The Sangheili pilot turned to look at him with surprise.

"Shipmaster, what is..." the pilot didn't even get a chance to finish his question when Kalleem fired his repeater into the Sangheili's chest. He ripped the body from the cockpit and dragged it back to the troop bay. His muscles strained as he threw the body down the drop shute and into the battle below.

He rushed back to the cockpit, his three fingered hands tapping away on the main consol. He quickly closed the troop bay doors and deactivated the drop shute. He gripped the flight controls and pushed on the thrusters. The drop ship vibrated as it ascended into the bleak grey sky.

As the phantom flew towards the relative safety of space, Kalleem saw a flash of movement in the corner of the view screen. He turned the Phantom slightly and found a familiar sight.

Cruising toward the crater where his abandoned soldier continued to put up a valiant fight, was one of the small ships he had seen ten cycles ago with Salleema. Anger flooded through him and demanded he should go and hunt down the humans who killed his mentor.

Kalleem growled but continued on his present course. He knew going up against the occupants of that ship without assistance would end horribly for him, no matter how skilled he was with his new sword.

Less than a Minute passed until they grey sky Changed into the starry landscape of space. He surveyed what was left of the space battle with a bitter taste in his mouth. Fleet master Rilka had lost. Only a mere three cruiser survived, one of them including Rilka's personal carrier ship. The rest of the human fleet sat several million kilometres away, waiting for Rilka to make one final move.

Kalleem flew the phantom closer to the carrier while keeping a watchful eye on the human fleet. As his drop ship came within a thousand kilometres of the ship, the hangar bay doors opened and the security shields deactivated. He soared his ship inside the carrier and set it hovering above the hangar floor. Kalleem climbed from the cockpit and stalked back into the troop bay where the Huragok floated silently.

"Come" he ordered them as he hopped into the drop shute and fell slowly towards the floor of the Carrier ship. Kalleem landed softly and looked up with surprise, into the face of the legendary Rilka 'Dalisee. Kalleem looked around and found the hangar to be unusually empty.

"Fleet master" he said with humility, "it is truly an honour." The old Sangheili stared at him sadly.

"We have failed shipmaster" Rilka said with a shake of his long head, "I doubt meeting a failure such as myself would count as an honour."

Kalleem didn't know what to say to that, so he decided to change the topic, "I have been able to recover the location of the _Destroyer _fleetmaster." The Sangheili fleet master eyed him curiously.

"Just you?" he asked.

"Unfortunately yes, the rest of my team perished on the planet surface" Kalleem lied, knowing this was half the truth, "I am sorry to say I could not defeat all of the humans by the time my last squad member fell in battle. They died honourably, and for that I am proud to have served with them."

Rilka nodded gratefully, "They died in battle with honour, just as a true warrior should." Rilka moved forward and clasped Kalleem's shoulders. "I must ask something of you shipmaster."

"Of course fleetmaster, anything." Kalleem said in a rush.

"You must kill me. If I return to our people without a victory then my family and I will be shamed and dishonoured. Please, allow me this one last mercy."

Kalleem stared at the desperate fleetmaster. Honour is everything to a Sangheili, which was why many preferred death to the alternative of being dishonoured. Kalleem might have been dishonoured himself, but it was his secret and no one would ever know. But if Rilka returned to the Covenant with only three ships, he would be disgraced and stripped of his rank.

"Of course fleet master Rilka" Kalleem said softly, "but before I do I must know the fate of the _Unknown Truth_."

Rilka let go of Kalleem's shoulders and cocked his head to one side, thinking hard. He then lowered his head in sorrow.

"I may be mistaken shipmaster, but I do believe that ship was boarded by several of the humans. I heard that it crashed on the fourth planet in this system."

_Talis_, Kalleem thought_, I had just promoted him and he was killed by the humans just as his father had._

"Thank you fleet master." Kalleem gripped his energy sword and brought it to bear. Rilka sank to his knees as Kalleem raise the hilt above his head. He ignited the blade and watched Rilka's eyes widen at its unique shape.

"Heretic" the fleet master hissed "you tampered with the technology passed to us by the Prophets. They will have your head for this."

"What the Prophets don't know won't hurt them" Kalleem said sinisterly. He threw his weight behind his weapon and sliced clean through Rilka's armour protected skull. Such a legendary fleetmaster deserved more than death or dishonour. It pained him to end the Sangheili's life, but he knew it would have been cruel not to.

He stepped away from Rilka's body and turned to regard the two Huragok. Both of them seemed to be conversing with one another, not even noticing Rilka's corpse lying next to Kalleem. He turned his back on the two creatures and headed into the ship, knowing they will stay here unless ordered otherwise.

Kalleem stalked the halls searching for the bridge. Like the hangar, the halls of this ship were oddly empty of personnel. Then it dawned on him that the carrier ship would have dropped most of its troops on one of the planets for a ground engagement.

Kalleem hung a right and found the bridge entrance at the hallway's end. The moment he stepped through the door he was greeted by twenty pairs of eyes. The carrier's shipmaster approached him from across the room.

"Where is fleetmaster Rilka?" the Sangheili demanded.

Kalleem narrowed his eyes at the shipmaster's tone, "the fleetmaster succumbed while his honour was still intact. We have what we came here to find, so if you would mind setting course for High Charity I believe the Hierarchs would greatly appreciate it."

Without a word the shipmaster turned his back on Kalleem and started barking out orders. Kalleem turned on his heel and went back the way he came, knowing he had no other business on the bridge.

On his way back to the hangar he felt the deck rumble beneath him. He knew the feeling well. They had entered Slipspace. The Covenant fleet may have been defeated but with the location of the _Destroyer _secure, victory against the entire human race would be imminent.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Map Room

Cris skimmed the _Saurora _over Abian IV's barren landscape. He pushed the thrusters on full and felt the resulting speed increase force him back in his chair. He stared out of the view screen at the wasteland below them. _Lord Trepid was right_, he realized _this world is dead_.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Helen said impatiently in the co-pilot seat.

"I'm going as fast as I can. Can you tell me again why we're even doing this?"

Jason stood behind Helen's seat, gazing out at what was left of a once beautiful world. He ruffled his hair, bringing himself out of his thoughts. "I'm not sure exactly. All my master said is that if we don't stop the Covenant from finding whatever they came here to find, then the entire human race could be wiped out."

Cris breathed deeply, "stang, that's some heavy stuff. Lord Trepid how far are we?"

The Sith closed his eyes and relaxed himself in his seat, "I don't know. I can't find the Covenant squad anymore. There is a battle occurring near where I last sensed them, so the presence of so many beings could be masking them from me."

Silence filled the cockpit as everyone took this in. Helen squinted her eyes, realizing she could already see the battle off in the distance. Lights danced across the horizon, which continued to get brighter and brighter as they drew closer.

They were now flying over a small restoration settlement, which seemed to be the target of the Covenant. A lone Phantom drop ship flew from the nearby battle, but they paid it little attention as they took in the carnage that spread out before them. Several Kilometres away, the majority of the battle was taking place. Three large Republic weapons platforms shot high concentrated lasers at two massive Scarabs, their shots taking huge divots out of the Scarabs' purple metal armour.

No Covenant troops were left standing, allowing hundreds of Republic soldiers to fire everything they had at the giant machines. They watched as the Scarabs powered up their own weapons and shots and streams of plasma at the Republic army.

Unfortunately for the Covenant, one of the weapons platforms had done some serious damage to the head of second Scarab, causing it and the entire machine to explode in a flash of light from a power overload. With only one Scarab standing it made things much easier for the Republic.

The lead platform adjusted its main laser and fired. The energy bolt gutted the Scarab from head to tail. The machine shuddered from the impact, its head leaking superheated plasma. Then, just like the other, it exploded. Bits of metal and plasma flew high into the air, forcing Cris to swerve the _Saurora_ out of the way.

The _Saurora _flew down and landed beside the lead platform. The four of them exited the ship and marched across the grey soil toward floating fortress. Around them stood hundreds of republic soldiers, many cheering that the battle was won, some silent and reflecting on the horrors they had experienced over the past two hours.

As the four of them made their way through the crowd toward the command center, Jason was filled with sorrow. The last time he had visited this world it had been full of life, even in the midst of a war. But now, ten years later, it was a husk of what it once was.

Jason was snapped out of his imagination as a hissing sound cut through the cheers of the soldiers. He looked up and saw a hatch on the side of the command center opening wipe, a small ladder descending to the ground from the center's interior.

A man in his late sixties popped his head out of the hatch to examine his surroundings, a satisfied yet tired look on his face. Jason found the man oddly familiar, but didn't know where he knew him from.

"Commander Petria!" Helen said with surprise. She and her brother quickly saluted while the commander gaped at them with surprise. Jason raised his eyebrows. Commander Tarth Petria was renowned as a strategic genius back in the Sith Guerrilla war. Jason had expected the man to have retired afterward, but it seemed he was wrong.

"Helen? Cris? What are you two doing here?"

"We're on a mission" Cris explained, "and come to think of we could use your help."

The commander nodded with understanding, "come in then, we'll see what we can do"

Cris led the way, gripping the ladder's rungs and pulling himself upward and into the command center. Jason then turned to Helen, but she already knew what he was wondering.

"Commander Petria was one of our teachers back in the military. He taught us everything from historic battles to space combat strategy."

The four of them eventually made their way inside the command center, brushing the planet's dust of their clothes. Jason looked around, intrigued by the command center's interior, which looked almost as damaged as its exterior. The weapons platform was obviously at the center of some heavy fighting.

The commander led them into a large empty conference room, with a table showing the entire battle field on its sleek surface. Jason was last inside and closed the door behind him.

"Pleas take a seat" Commander Petria offered as he deactivated the battle field layout in the table. All but Trepid obeyed and made themselves comfortable.

"So, what can I do for you?" Petria asked as he shuffled in his chair.

"We're looking for a squad of Covenant, they were sent here to find something on the planet surface" Helen explained, "We don't have many leads to go on. The last we knew the Covenant we're looking for were in this general area."

Petria scratched at the stubble on his chin, "Well as you saw we took care of all the Covenant in this area. Not to mention what's left of their fleet is currently retreating. So I'm not sure what to think other than mission accomplished."

Jason was already having doubts, "But didn't allot of the Covenant you were fighting send down drop ships for reinforcements?"

The commander nodded, "Yes, there was a couple dozen drop ships that came onto the battle field. They didn't drop off many troops, just several of their tanks and light attack vehicles."

Jason frowned, fearing the worst, "So there's a chance that they could have gotten off world before we could stop them."

"Hard to say" said Petria with a shrug, "but you said that the Covenant were looking for something, what makes you think they ever found it?"

Jason rubbed his eyes, thinking about his wounded master, hoping that the rescue crew Cris called for would get to her in time. "My master had a vision of the future" he explained, "She said if we don't stop them, then the Covenant could wipe the galaxy clean of the human race."

"But maybe..."

Jason was getting annoyed, "these are allot of maybes, and I feel there's only one way to find out if one of them are true. We find whatever it was that they were looking for, and see if it can give us any clues as to what their agenda is."

"But they could have taken whatever it is and left in the retreat" stated Trepid blandly.

"We have to try something" Jason roared with frustration, "we can't just sit around debating about this, we need to take action."

Helen reached out and gripped his hand firmly, "Jason I know you're upset over Keelu, but you need to calm down. Your right though, we need intel and we won't get that by arguing over possibilities."

Jason relaxed and his shoulders slumped. In this short time of knowing her, Helen already knew what to say to calm him. Jason opened his mouth to respond when the door slid open, revealing a tall Republic trooper in singed white armour.

"Permission to enter sir?" the trooper asked.

"Granted" said Petria, "what's the problem corporal?"

"Sir we believe we found something in the nearby crater and thought you might want to take a look."

Petria thought this over before getting to his feet. "Very well. The rest of you should come with me; this might be of interest to you."

Silently they followed the trooper out of the conference room and into the main control room. The trooper pointed a white finger out of the wide viewport where the crater spread out below them. They all followed the soldier's finger to a shining object on the far side of the crater.

"What is it?" asked Helen, squinting to see past the glare.

"From what our long range instruments can tell, it's some sort of buried structure." The soldier explained "we believe it is metallic in composition, but at this distance it is difficult to tell."

Petria turned away to face the soldier, "alright, I'm going to be taking a team across to examine the structure. Corporal I want you to call for evac and get the wounded off world as soon as you can."

"Of course sir" the corporal saluted and turned on his heel, heading off to follow out his orders.

"We're coming with you" Cris blurted.

The commander chuckled, "I never implied you weren't."

Five minutes later, the five of them were seated aboard a crowded drop ship cruising over the crater. Jason leaned out of the open side hatch to watch the structure draw closer. _Is this what Covenant were looking for?_ He wondered to himself. Jason looked down and saw a small group of Covenant corpses lying at the bottom of the crater, wondering if they were the ones sent to find this thing.

At last they got close enough to see the structure in detail. The structure was actually a large elegant archway, leading deep into the planet surface. The drop ship slowed down and turned ninety degrees, allowing the occupants to disembark into the buried archway.

Jason and Helen were the first to step out of the drop ship and onto the metallic floor of the structure. Jason looked at the walls and ceiling and noticed something. He stepped closer to examine the wall on his left and found hundreds of geometric shapes etched into the metal. He had seen similar etchings ten years ago in the monastery on Vespae.

He backed away from the wall and found the rest of the team had assembled inside the structure, the drop ship fading into the distance. The team included him, Helen, Cris, Trepid, Commander Petria and seven of the best Republic commandoes Petria had at his disposal.

"Where to sir?" one of the commandoes asked Petria.

The commander shrugged, "forward I guess. But be on the lookout, we have no idea if this thing is actually empty."

Cautiously the team moved deeper into the structure, unsure as to what ended at the end of the winding hallway. As they rounded the second corner Jason moved up beside Helen. She turned and smiled at him, but he only frowned.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

"This all seems too familiar" he replied softly, "there was a monastery back on Vespae which was really similar to this, only difference being this structure is made of metal, not stone like the other."

Helen was thinking this over, "there have been hundreds of stories that highly advanced alien civilizations existed before the Republic, this could be a remnant from one of them."

Jason nodded; he stretched out with the force and sensed that the metal was very old, just like the stones at the monastery. "You might be right."

Helen reached out and gripped his hand, weaving her fingers through his. Jason felt a warmth fill his body and he knew he was in love, he wasn't going to deny it. Helen had entered his life unexpectedly, and he was glad she had. She had helped change him in only a matter of days from a depressed, scared man into a Jedi once more. She was his inspiration, his drive, and he would do anything to protect her.

This structure was enormous, but Jason didn't mind much, he was busy savouring every moment with the woman he loved. As they ventured deeper into the structure the stale air started to get colder. Helen pulled Jason closer, keeping each other warm in their embrace.

As they rounded another corner, Jason was beginning to think they were traveling in circles until he spotted a small door at the far end of the hall. One of the commandoes held up his fist, signalling for them to stop.

He made several hand gestures and his fellow commandoes moved up to follow their silent orders. They took up positions on either side of the door, their weapons ready. Jason and Helen shifted away from one another, also readying themselves for whatever could be on the other side of the door.

When everyone was prepared, the commando opened the door. In a flash the commandoes were inside, their weapons scanning the room. Slowly they lowered their weapons; the room was empty. The lead commando back out of the room and turned to Petria.

"Sir there isn't much room in there. The rest of us will wait out here, besides there's something in there you might want to look at."

"Very well" said Petria, watching as the rest of the soldier exited the room.

Jason and the other followed the commander into the room, each having different ideas as to what they were about to find. When Jason entered the room he was fascinated by what he saw.

"It's a star map" said a fascinated Cris.

Jason couldn't tear his eyes away. Even though it was only a hologram, it was much more realistic than any he had ever seen before. He even wondered if it might be in real time. He stepped close and saw that the second planet in the hologram was surrounded by a flashing red circle.

"Didn't the Rakata spread star maps across the galaxy to find the location of the Star Forge?" Trepid asked, walking closer to the hologram.

Jason recalled his history lessons on the Jedi civil war. Almost two thousand years ago two former Jedi knights, Revan and Malak, searched for several star maps hidden on remote worlds. These maps brought them to the Star Forge, a massive machine created by the ancient Rakata. At this time the two Jedi knights had fallen to the dark side, and used the Star Forge to build a new Sith army to try and take over the galaxy. In the end, Revan redeemed himself by defeating his former apprentice, destroying the Star Forge and most of the Sith armada.

"Yes" answered Petria, "but I've studied the Rakatan system and it has many more planets than the ones this map is showing."

"Does anyone recognize this system?" Helen asked them.

Silence.

"I could be wrong, but I think I might have been there before."

Four heads turned to look at Cris, waiting for him to go on.

"I think that's the world of Taxyra in the Theelin system. A year after I graduated from the academy I went on a recon mission there. I was sent to watch for any pirate activity since senator Sa-Vin had been kidnapped a couple days previous. I found nothing but I was picking up some weird life sign readings from one of the planets. The same planet I think this map is pointing to."

"So whatever the Covenant are looking for is on this world?" Trepid wondered, slightly annoyed.

"Possibly" Helen said, walking over to what she thought might be a consol. When she stepped up in front of it, she felt as though the controls were oddly familiar. With nothing to loose she placed her hand on one of the controls. The Star map suddenly changed to show the entire galaxy with a smaller red circle pointing to system in the Expansion region.

"Yup, that's Theelin" Cris confirmed, "Hey how did you know what to do?"

Helen shrugged, "I don't know, I just guessed."

"We should assume the Covenant have this data" said Petria, "which means it's a race to find whatever is on that planet."

As they exited the map room with their new found knowledge, Jason started thinking about the structure they were in. There was some connection between the monastery, this structure and the planet pointed out on the star map, and he needed to find out what.

* * *

Kalleem stalked passed the Sangheilios guards, the two Huragok trailing behind with noisy puffs of gas. The Sanctum of the Hierarchs was just as magnificent as before, with the dying red star filling the large viewport. The only difference compared to last time being there was only one of the three hierarchs. The Prophet of Truth beamed as he approached. He came within several feet of the Prophet before sinking to his knees in a low bow.

"Welcome back Ship master, I assume your mission was successful?" he asked.

"Yes hierarch, I regretfully inform that the rest of my troops perished on the planet surface during the heavy fighting."

The prophet narrowed his eyes, "and yet you lived, why is that?"

Kalleem's lie could only go so far, and knew that he would have to tell the truth, or at least half of it. "Forgive me Hierarch, but there were too many humans to win against. They swarmed over my troops and before I knew it I was the last. I was forced to flee, or else risk the location of the Destroyer being lost."

Truth leaned back in his hover chair, his beady black eyes examining Kalleem like a Duma bird watching its prey. The seconds ticked by as Kalleem waited for the Prophet to speak. Finally the San'Shyuum ended the silence.

"I know well how important honour is to you Sangheili, but nonetheless you did the right thing leaving while you could. Your honour remains intact as long as no one knows of this, correct?"

Kalleem nodded.

"Then do not fret Ship master, your secret is safe with me" He said with a small wink, "we will tell your story of heroism as you fought and defeated the humans while your comrades died around you. There is no need to cover up the truth when we can just exaggerate it."

"Yes Hierarch" Kalleem agreed, "but we did loose the battle along with many lives."

The Prophet frowned, "a minor set back. We underestimated these humans, and we will not make the same mistake twice."

"What are you planning hierarch?"

The Prophet smiled darkly, "We have found several more of their systems and during your mission. We will send some of our forces to them to spread their forces and give us a better chance at finding the Destroyer" Truth leaned back in his chair and gazed out of the observation window, "And I believe it is finally time to present the humans with something they will never expect."


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Theelin

Jason approached the bed quietly, so as not to wake his master. The doctors hade told him earlier that she would be fine, but would need to undergo several surgeries and therapy if she ever hoped to walk again. He was satisfied she was safe, but nervous that he and his team would be doing their next mission without her. The door hissed open behind him and he turned to see Helen leaning on the door frame.

"How is she?" she whispered.

Jason moved silently toward Helen, "She should be fine, but it's going to take her a while to recover" he replied quietly. With one last sparing glance at Keelu, he and Helen left the sleeping Twi'lek in peace.

"General Skye wants to speak with us about Theelin" Helen stated once the door shut, "not to mention we need to talk about us. I care about you Jason, but if it means you leaving the Jedi order then I can't keep on knowing that I was the cause of that."

Jason smiled sadly, "Helen, when I went into exile I experienced many things that I never had as a Jedi, such as making my own choices or indulging in different emotions. But when I went back to the temple, it just didn't feel like home anymore. I had experienced life outside the Jedi order. I know where my place is Helen and it's with you." He pulled her close and kissed her, but she pulled away.

"What about the war?" Helen asked, "I can't stand the thought of loosing you."

Jason sighed, "I feel the same, but we've made a commitment to the Republic, and we can't just leave them to deal with the Covenant alone."

"I know" said Helen dismally.

Jason reached out and pulled her into a soft hug. He stretched out with the force and touched her mind, trying to tell her things will be alright. She looked up at him with a shadow of a smile on her face. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek before pulling away once more. She gripped Jason's hand and together they made their way through the _Righteous Justice's_ winding hallways. Eventually they made their way to the bridge where they were they were greeted by Keth, Petria, and an old Mon Calamari who Jason suspected to be General Skye.

"Welcome, both of you" Skye said graciously, "I am sorry to hear you failed in your mission, next time will be different. Commander Petria has just briefed us on our situation. We've come to the conclusion that what you found in that structure can't be ignored."

"We're planning on sending a small force to the Theelin system" said Keth, "and we would like your team to accompany us."

Helen shifted uncomfortably, "with all due respect sirs, I doubt Lord Trepid will be willing to go on another mission. We had an agreement that he would only be required to go on one mission."

"We'll sort something out" assured Petria, "In the meantime, myself, commander Oroli and General Skye here will set course for the Theelin system while the rest of the fleet returns to Couriscant for repairs."

"How did the battle go anyways?" asked Jason.

Skye blinked a few times before answering, "Well we won obviously, but we lost eleven of our eighteen cruisers and four of our seven capital ships. The Covenant also destroyed most of the restoration centers on Abian IV and several cities on Abian V. Luckily the majority of the civilians escaped unharmed, and we were able to evacuate most of them to the Nakida system near the beginning of the battle."

Jason nodded, amazed at how much damage the Covenant had caused in such a short period of time. The two of them listened intently as the three officers continued to outline the mission.

"You and your team will be sent to the planet surface to see what you can find" Keth explained, "While the rest of us will stay in orbit and watch for any Covenant activity. We don't know if they have this data so just in case, Admiral Ordona will be sending her fleet along as soon as she returns from a mission in the mid rim. Any questions?"

"When you say "see what you can find" what does that mean exactly?" Helen asked.

The three officers exchanged a look. Jason sensed they were holding something back, and he was curious as to what it might be.

"We believe" began Skye slowly, "that the star map you found belonged to an extinct race of aliens known as the Celestials. The Senate wanted to cover this up because the technology we found is incredibly advanced, and in the wrong hands could prove quite destructive."

"Allot of the technology that has been recovered seem like junk and would usually go unnoticed" said Keth, "but during examinations we found that some contain highly advanced technology. As a matter of fact, most of the holographic and anti gravity technology you see today was originally based off the Celestial technology we found."

"The architecture of that structure corresponds with the artefacts which had been previously recovered" stated Petria, "which means whatever is on that world in the Theelin system was important to the Celestials."

"So what we mean by seeing what you can find," Keth explained "is see if there's anything that seems remotely similar to the structure with the star map. The Covenant wants something on that world and whatever it is sure can't be good for us."

"Sir have you contacted the Jedi council on this matter?" Jason asked Skye, remembering that he forgot to send them an update on the mission.

"Yes, they have agreed that this issue can't be ignored and have given us permission to send you to Theelin."

Jason was unsure about all this; they were going on a new mission with little to no intel, not to mention their team was down one member. The Covenant had all the advantages, but hopefully they would get there first and figure all this out before the Covenant could.

"Are we clear?" Skye asked them.

Jason and Helen nodded, knowing failure wasn't an option this time. Skye then dismissed them, allowing Jason and Helen to make their way out of the bridge.

* * *

Kalleem walked along High Charity's crowded walkways, his guilt eating away at him. He had betrayed his allies back on the human world, and to him it felt worse than his dishonourable actions of fleeing in battle. He was a coward. He was conflicted between his honour and his duty to the Covenant. Kalleem was jolted out of his thoughts when a heavy body smashed into him.

Kalleem snarled, "Watch where you are going."

"Is that any way to talk to you brother?"

"Vreela?" Kalleem stood back and saw the grinning face of his older brother. The last time he had seen his brother was when they had fought together in the Kendu sector four years ago. After the battle his brother was promoted and sent to oversee a top secret project for the Hierarchs.

"What are you doing here?" Kalleem asked him.

Vreela shrugged, "I thought I would come see the capital, and see how my little brother was holding up."

Kalleem grinned, "I'm being serious brother."

Vreela laughed, "So am I to an extent. I heard about what happened to you, how you're entire squad perished while you survived to finish off the humans. You're a hero you know."

Kalleem's grin disappeared, "if this is how being a hero feels then let me tell you, it isn't as great as they say."

Vreela rested his hand on Kalleem's shoulder, trying to comfort his brother, "they died with honour, which is more than any of us can hope for."

_If only he knew_, he thought.

"You always did know what to say" Kalleem faked, knowing that his brother's words could do nothing to ease his soul. His betrayal, his heresy, his dishonour would haunt him until his death.

"Come" said Vreela cheerfully, "we have much to discus." Vreela slung his arm over his younger brother's shoulder and they began to walk through the hordes of Covenant civilians towards the main gravity lifts.

"Tell me Kalleem" said Vreela, "how goes the war?"

Kalleem shrugged "It goes well, every day more and more of the humans are cleansed from the galaxy."

Vreela nodded, "so I hear. But I also hear the humans you faced in your latest engagement were nothing like the ones our brothers faced on the front lines."

"Yes, they are much more formidable opponents. Their bodies are the same yet their technology is far greater than the ones we fight against daily. But enough about the humans, what have you been doing? I haven't seen or heard from you in years."

Vreela pulled his brother towards one of the hangar bays, a grin on his mandibles, "after our last battle together, the hierarchs requested me to oversee an incredibly important project of theirs. What they had conceived was the creation of a weapon which could decimate entire fleets of humans with ease." Kalleem was wondering if this weapon could even come close to the one the created by the Forerunners.

"What is this weapon?" Kalleem asked.

The two brothers stepped into one of the massive hangars, a large Carrier ship sitting in the docking platform high above their heads. Vreela steered Kalleem toward the end of the massive room, where a transparent energy shield stood keeping the atmosphere of High Charity inside. Vreela removed his arm from Kalleem's shoulder and pointed out beyond the shield and into space.

Kalleem looked to where his brother was pointing and gaped in amazement. A space station unlike any he had ever seen sat several million kilometres away, spinning slowly in space. Kalleem moved closer to the shield, taking in ever little detail of the station.

The massive station was nearly the same size of High Charity, but unlike the Covenant capital's smooth look, this station was all angular and sharp. Long spires jutted out of a spherical center all over the station with small cannons positioned at the end of each one. As the station turned slowly on its axis, a new sight became visible. A massive plasma cannon, twice the size of any of the spires, aimed far out into space.

"By the gods Vreela" said Kalleem, "what is it?"

"The Hierarchs christened it the _Heretic Assassin,_ it is the only one of its kind" He said with a smile, "It has forty three smaller cannons on each of those spires, along with one massive one capable of glassing an entire planet in a single shot."

Kalleem let loose a rumbling laughter, "this is magnificent Vreela. Is it operational?"

"Oh yes, quite. Come to think of it the _Assassin_ will be going on its first mission fairly soon."

Kalleem perked up at this, "what is the mission?"

"We're heading to a system on the far side of the galaxy where an ancient Forerunner weapon is supposed to be hidden" Vreela said proudly, "with the combined power of the Assassin and the Forerunner weapon, the entire human race will be cleansed from existence."

Kalleem was about to tell his brother that he too would be taking part in this mission, but why spoil the surprise? After all, once Kalleem took control of the Destroyer, he and his brother would be able to lay waste to the entire human race.

* * *

"What's in it for me if I say yes?" Trepid asked Helen as he reclined in his chair aboard the Saurora, "the first mission I did for revenge, but if you want me to do more work for you Republic scum again then I want payment I return."

Jason rested his chin on the navigation consol, "Helen let him leave, we can do this without him."

"Jason you should know better than anything that two force users are better than one." Helen said from the doorway, "I would have preferred three but Keelu is out of commission, so we might need his help. What do you want Trepid?"

Trepid scratched his grey chin, thinking. "I want several things" said the Sith, "One: I want my freedom, which means I don't need to return to Korriban and I am given my own ship by the Republic."

"No" Jason said flatly, "there's no way we're letting a Sith break the Treaty."

"C'mon Jason be fair" said Cris in the pilot chair, "he may be a Sith but he's providing a duty for the Republic, that has to count for something."

Trepid scoffed, "duty, ha. What a joke. I've also got one more condition. I want to be able to contact Korriban once we drop out of hyperspace."

Helen was silent for several seconds, "Ok, I can agree to the second one but I'm going to have to speak with General Skye later if we want to make the first condition legal."

"What?" Jason exclaimed.

"Jason, please you have to understand we need him" she said to him, "I could call the council to send more Jedi but we can't waste any time waiting for them to meet us in the Theelin system."

Cris turned in his seat, "Helen if the Covenant doesn't know about Theelin, then we won't even need Lord Trepid."

Helen began pacing, "we don't have much knowledge about any of this. We have to assume the Covenant know about this. If they don't then that's good news for us, because whatever that star map was pointing to will be ours for the taking."

"And if they do?" asked Trepid.

"Admiral Ordona will be sending her fleet when she's available" said Helen, "That's all the navy can really spare at the moment with half of our navy in orbit around Korriban and the other half either destroyed in the last battle or stationed in systems across the galaxy."

"And you think that will be enough to deal with the Covenant?" Jason wondered aloud.

"It'll have to be" she said with a shrug. All of them flinched in surprise as Helen's comlink started beeping loudly. She whipped it out and Keth's voice cut through the air.

"Corporal Terrek, I would prepare your team for departure, we will be dropping out of hyperspace in ten minutes. Good luck and may the force be with you."

"Understood commander, thank you." She deactivated the comlink and marched to her co-pilot chair, where she and her brother began the pre-flight systems check. The Saurora shook slightly as the _Righteous Justice_ dropped out of hyperspace.

"Lord Trepid you may go use the comm. room now" Helen said, her back still turned. Without a word, the Sith Lord left the cockpit, his black cloak swishing behind him.

The hangar bay doors opened in front of them and Cris piloted the Saurora out and into the Theelin system. The ship turned and flew around the _Justice's_ fuselage and set course for the second planet in the Theelin system.

"So what's the story behind this place?" Helen asked her brother.

"The smugglers and pirates originally named it Taxyra." said Cris, "No one ever goes there because it's supposed to have some of the most dangerous life forms in the system."

Jason turned in his chair to look out at the planet. Taxyra was almost completely light brown, with the odd small patch of green. Near the planet's northern region sat a crater the size of which Jason had never seen. It was remarkable life on Taxyra was able to survive after such an impact.

As the Saurora began to enter the planet's clear atmosphere, Trepid re-entered the cockpit and took his place behind the pilot chair, his face devoid of emotion. Jason watched as the planet surface came into view. It reminded him slightly of the fungal world of Felucia, except there was a complete lack of colour. Everywhere Jason looked there was a sickening brown colour. Large brown tentacles waved slowly in the breeze as they stretched high in the air while down on the surface, brown oddly shaped creatures gazed up at the Saurora as it flew overhead.

Jason could sense the creatures watching them intently. It was slightly unnerving but Jason quickly dismissed it as primitive curiosity as Cris found a small clearing to set down on. The Saurora sunk into the soft ground and the four of them prepared to disembark.

Jason and Trepid unclipped their light sabres and were the first to step onto the planet surface, with Helen and Cris bringing up the rear with blaster rifles cocked and ready in their arms. Jason took a breath once outside and almost gagged. It smelled like the entire planet was rotting. He instinctively covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve, trying to block out the stench.

"Ugh" moaned Cris, "what is that?"

"Who knows" said a disgusted Trepid.

Jason took a shaky breath and surveyed the landscape. The planet's plant life seemed incredibly diverse, except for the colour. He wondered what made them that way. Then out of the corer of his eye he spotted some movement behind the trees. Jason swore he saw something but he couldn't sense anything. This whole world was bustling with activity, but what was weird was that it felt like the whole world was a single organism, but he knew that couldn't be possible.

Then as Jason took a step toward the tree line, half a dozen large creatures rushed out from the foliage. They were deformed ugly things with three arms, four skinny legs, and spindly tentacles sticking out of flesh in random places across their bodies. Helen and Cris fired their blasters at the creatures, but they seemed to have no effect.

The nearest one took a swing at Jason with a large clawed hand, but missed as Jason back flipped out of harms way. He activated his light sabre and the blue shaft hummed to life before his eyes. Jason moved forward quickly and severed the creature's three appendages. Jason backed off, expecting the thing to fall to the ground in pain. But it didn't. It was if it didn't even realize Jason had removed its arms.

Jason leapt forward took a series of slashes at the creature's torso until he heard a loud pop come from inside the animal's body. Jason jumped away as the body threatened to crush him as it slumped to the ground, dead.

To his right, Helen and Cris had unsheathed their small vibro blades and were gouging huge chucks out of two of the massive creatures. Their attackers were taking a gruelling amount of punishment, but still the animals continued to push them back toward the Saurora. Looking to his left, Jason noticed Trepid was facing three of the monsters, but seemed to have everything under control as his crimson blade cut through them with ease. Knowing the Sith could handle himself Jason moved forward to help Helen and her brother.

Jason ran up behind one of the creatures and slashed at its back. The lumbering beast turned around and tried to pummel him into the ground. But Jason expected this and sliced off its claw before it even came close. Helen came at the thing from behind and plunged her blade deep into the creature's back. Just like before, something popped inside the animal and it crashed to the ground.

Summoning the powers of the force, Jason lifted the corpse in front of him and hurled it at the one attacking Cris. The two bodies collided violently, sending them flying back into the brown forest. On the other side of the clearing Trepid was chopping one of the creatures into pieces with his blade while blasting away the other two with a storm of force lightning.

"What were those?" Cris wondered aloud, breathing heavily as Trepid finished off the last creature.

None of them answered, after all how could they? None of them had ever faced anything like these things before. The Covenant was one thing, but these animals were a whole other story. The entire team turned suspiciously as a sloshing, light clicking sound came floating into the clearing. The sound started off quiet, but it soon grew in volume.

They all turned as hundreds; maybe thousands of small bulbous creatures came skittering into view, thin little legs propelling them along the ground towards them. Helen and Cris fetched their blasters and started firing. As the bolts impacted the creatures, they popped loudly causing some of their fellows to also pop.

Jason and Trepid swung their blades at the little creatures, but each time their blades popped them they were knocked backward. Trepid tried blowing them away with his force lightning, but soon found this ineffective as new creatures soon came to replace the dead ones.

"Get back to the ship!" Helen roared, her blaster shaking in her hands as it spat bolts at the oncoming animals.

Jason backpedalled toward the Saurora with Helen and Trepid at his sides. Cris turned and ran up the boarding ramp to get the ship ready for take off. The three of them were about to follow suit when a stream of energy shot down from the sky and blew apart several of the creatures. They all looked up to see hundreds of small metal machines flying towards the clearing at an incredible pace.

They swooped in low over the clearing, energy beams blasting away the little creatures one at a time. Realizing what they were up against, the animals made a break for the forests, knowing its heavy foliage would protect them from the machines.

"Reclaimers" cried a voice from the sky. They all turned their heads skyward and spotted a smaller machine amongst all the others. As the other machines circled slowly overhead this smaller one flew down in front of them, a bright green eye making up it's entire body.

"Thank the maker's you are here" the machine said in a fluent galactic basic, its eye pulsating with each word, "your arrivals here have initiated this installation's basic security protocols and will begin containing the outbreak, but we must hurry if we wish to activate this installation's primary containment systems."

Helen held up her hands in confusion, "hey buddy, slow down. We have no idea what you are talking about. Would you mind elaborating a little?"

The machine looked at Helen with it's large eye, "of course Reclaimer, but this area is compromised by the Flood. Until the sentinel drones can handle the outbreak, I'm afraid we will need to find a more secure location."

As the machine spoke it's last words, a bright yellow light surrounded and got increasingly brighter until It disappeared. Jason, Helen and Trepid stood staring at the spot where the machine had been seconds earlier. Jason then felt a tingling sensation spread across his body. He looked down to see the same yellow light enveloping him. And he wasn't the only one; Trepid and Helen seemed to be experiencing the same thing.

The light eventually became so bright that all of them were forced to shut their eyes. Then, just like the machine, the three of them vanished from the clearing without a trace.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Installation

Jason opened his eyes and was greeted by Trepid and Helen standing several feet away, each with confused looks on their faces. Jason looked around and found they weren't in the clearing anymore. Somehow they made it inside some large metallic structure similar to that on Abian IV. The only difference being this structure's room was enormous, with a circular large catwalk surrounding a giant hologram of Taxyra floating precariously over a very deep pit. Sitting just bellow the hologram of Taxyra was a large holographic consol like the one in the map room.

All of their heads turned as a humming sound filled the air. The small green machine was floating towards them from across the pit, its repulsers making the humming noise they were hearing. When the machine got closer, Jason was able to see its glowing green eye better. It took up almost the entire front of the machine, and had an odd symbol etched into its surface. The symbol looked like a small circle with six prongs sticking out to reach another circle beyond it.

"I believe this location should be suitable" said the machine gleefully, "after all, the Flood have yet to breach this level of the installation."

Helen stepped toward the machine, "ok, I'm probably speaking for everyone here, but who are you and where are we?"

The machine took several seconds before responding, "My name is 252 Glorious Fire, and I am the monitor of Destroyer Installation 02. This room is the installation's control center located ten standard kilometres to the north of this installation's main energy weapon."

"Alright" Helen said, scratching her head with confusion, "do you mind if we ask you some questions?"

The machine nodded enthusiastically, "of course Reclaimer, I will try to answer to the best of my abilities."

Helen nodded, "why don't you tell us everything about your makers, this "installation" and what this flood thing is?"

"Of course Reclaimer" said the Monitor cheerfully, "My makers, the Forerunners, existed a hundred thousand standard years ago. They were a peaceful race, until they came into contact with an intelligent parasitic race they called the Flood, which had come from an unknown galaxy and threatened to consume all sentient life in the galaxy. My makers boldly combated the parasite and as the war went on, they developed several weapons to exterminate the parasite, this installation being one of them. The Destroyer installations were developed to annihilate any planets completely infected by the Flood. But after several years, my makers found this method too destructive and morally unjust, and ceased using these installations. My makers then resorted to the use of the Halo array. These weapons of last resort cleansed the galaxy of Flood and all sentient life within three radii of the galactic center, ending the war."

Jason was shocked, this was too much too fast, but for some reason he believed it. It seemed the Celestials and the Forerunners were the same beings. He thought the Covenant had made up the Forerunners and the story about their war with the Flood. But it seemed everything except what they knew about the Halos were true. They believed the Halos took you on some Great Journey when activated, but instead just wiped the galaxy clean of sentient life. There was one thing about that, that didn't make sense to him.

"How come we're here when the Halo arrays were activated only a hundred thousand years ago?" Jason asked Fire, "Wouldn't the Halos have destroyed our ancestors as well?"

"Oh yes, of course" the monitor agreed, "but before the activation of the Halo array, my makers catalogued population samples from every sentient species in the galaxy. So when they activated the Halos, they could repopulate the galaxy and restore it to the way it once was."

Helen was listening to each word, a puzzling look on her face. "But there were intelligent civilizations living a hundred thousand years ago, like the Rakata. Wouldn't they have documented and recorded what the Forerunners did to them to keep them safe from the Halos?"

"My makers were true geniuses" the machine said happily to itself, "yes, you are correct Reclaimer. But before the activation of the halo array, my masters used a mental capacitor aboard Halo installation 01 to cause a galactic wide mental stasis of all non Forerunner species. This allowed my makers to collect samples from the more advanced civilizations without their recollection. The more primitive species on the other hand wouldn't remember the ordeal and were collected before the more advanced species."

"How come there is two different species of humans?" Jason asked curiously, "I've heard that there is another separate species of human living in a distant location of the galaxy."

The monitor was silent as it thought about this, "I do not have much knowledge on this affair. But when my makers came across your species, they found the similarities between you and them quite startling. I hypothesise they spread your species across the stars so if something were to happen to one group, then the entire species wouldn't be wiped out."

Jason raised his eyebrows, understanding the reasoning behind this. After all there have been hundreds of species wiped out in wars and natural disasters. But the human race always seemed like the one that never became less common in the galaxy.

Suddenly a thought crossed Jason's mind and he whipped out his data pad. He found the co-ordinates of Vespae and held the device where Fire could see it, "several years ago I went to a monastery on top of a mountain at these co-ordinates. The monastery seemed similar to all the structures you makers designed; do you know what it was used for?"

Fire floated closer to examine the numbers. It seemed to be processing this information since it was silent for what felt like a while. "Ah yes that was the location where my makers agreed the activation of the Halo array was the only way to win the war against the flood. It was secluded enough that the Flood would have a hard time finding them, and gave them the time needed to discus the matter of the Halo array in detail."

"Hold on" Trepid said, "If you said the Flood were wiped out by the Halos, then why did you also say there has been an outbreak of the stuff?"

"After this installation was put out of commission, my makers began capturing Flood specimens and took them to M-type Installations for study. All of the remaining Destroyer installations, including this one, were repurposed as M-type installations after their retirement and were utilized to find a weakness in the Flood my makers could exploit. The holding cells they were stored inside protected them from the Halo effect and survived for the last hundred thousand years. Unfortunately, several years ago one of the holding cells malfunctioned and released a dangerous amount of Flood, which infected all of the biomass on the installation's surface."

Jason perked up at this, "wait, how big is this installation?"

The monitor turned its back on them and floated up to the hologram of Taxyra, "why, it's the entire planet" it said. Fire's green eye brightened and the hologram begun to change. The brown surface of the hologram peeled away like a fruit to show a shiny metal surface underneath. The planet was completely artificial. Jason took in every amazing detail. Along the equator was a single long rectangular trench that stretched all the way around the planet, and the massive crater they had seen from orbit looked like a massive satellite dish had been implanted in the northern region of the planet.

"Helen, this could be what the Covenant are looking for" said Jason, "they weren't coming after something on the planet surface. They were coming after the planet. This must have been what my master saw in her vision. If they get control of this thing, we would be done for."

Helen nodded, "you're probably right Jason." She looked up to where Fire was floating beside the hologram, "so, all of that brown stuff on the planet surface." she said to the monitor, "Those big creatures and those smaller things were Flood?"

The monitor floated back down towards them, "yes, those bigger creatures were combat forms the Flood use to stall it's prey while the smaller infection forms you faced would bury under your skin and take control of your central nervous system. Making you a puppet of the Flood parasite."

Jason shivered at the thought of one of those little creatures digging their needle like tentacles into him. They had been so close to being overrun by them, and had in not been for Glorious Fire they would have been done for. He just hoped Cris got out ok, he had been aboard the Saurora when Fire had teleported them, leaving Cris behind.

"Those things may be dangerous but they didn't seem all too smart" Trepid stated, "how could they wage a war when they're nothing but stupid animals controlling other stupid animals?"

The monitor chuckled, "The Flood isn't what you think Reclaimer. The Parasite has a collective mind. So as it takes control over more sentient life forms, it becomes smarter. If the parasite were to take control of any of you Reclaimers, the collective mind would be able to access your knowledge and memories and all of the Flood on this installation would know what you know."

"How come the Flood's hosts were all deformed?" Helen asked Fire, "most of the parasites I've ever learned about just live off the host, not change it."

"When the Flood takes control of a new host, it buries itself in the torso of the animal and begins to mutate the body. These mutations allow the flood to turn its host into anything it desires. Such as a form to construct new Flood spores, or a form utilized for combat.

They were all worried now. If this parasite escaped the planet, then nothing short of a galactic wipe out could stop it. After all, if the most highly advanced alien race in the galaxy's history couldn't stop it, then what chance did the Republic or Jedi have?

"How do we stop it?" Jason asked bravely.

"This installation has basic security protocols which are enabled when Reclaimers, such as you, arrive on the installation at the time that a Flood out break has occurred" said the monitor, "these basic protocols will protect you and will do what it can to begin exterminating the parasite by the use of sentinel drones. This will not be enough to prevent the spread of the Flood. We need to bring this installation's systems completely online to activate the heavy support units, which will exterminate any Flood on or inside the Installation."

"What if we bring these support units online and they can't stop the Flood?" Helen asked rhetorically.

"Then we will have no choice but to overload this installation's main energy weapon and put it in a mode of self destruct. The resulting explosion should destroy the Flood and any chances of it spreading. The containment of the parasite is our top priority, and we must take every precaution that it doesn't escape the installation, no matter what the cost."

The three of them looked at each other, their heads still swimming with the knowledge they had just been given. It was almost too much to bear, but they had to do something. This parasite was far worse a threat than the Covenant ever was. The Covenant threatened the existence of the human race, while the Flood threatened the existence of all of the sentient beings in the galaxy. They could handle the Covenant, but the Flood was a completely different challenge.

Jason and Helen exchanged a nervous look before turning back to face the monitor. "Ok" Jason said with a tired breath, "Where do we start?"

"Well, like most of the Installations my makers designed, we require this Installation's activation Index, which can only be retrieved by Reclaimers such as yourselves. The location of the Index is in the Library overlooking the equatorial trench."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Helen asked, "Let's go get the thing."

The monitor nodded and the bright yellow light began to envelop the four of them. They all shut their eyes and just like before they disappeared in a flash, instantly teleported across the Destroyer's Flood infested surface.

* * *

Kalleem stood aboard the bridge of the Covenant cruiser _A Forgotten Sight,_ and watched through the luminary as the ship exited the pitch black of Slipspace_. _The Hierarchs had agreed that they should send a small force to the location of the Destroyer before bringing in the main fleet. After all it would be a major waste of resources if it was discovered that the humans hadn't made a presence of themselves in this system.

But unfortunately, it seemed that they had. Orbiting the second planet in the system was three of the advanced human ships that he had seen when he fled with the location of the Destroyer. At the moment it seemed they were oblivious to their presence, but that would soon change.

Kalleem was about to turn away from the luminary when another sight caught his eye. On the planet surface were four Reclamation glyphs. One sitting on its own while the other three were bunched together in the far north of the planet. It seemed the humans already knew about the Destroyer and had begun their own search for it.

The Ship master of _A forgotten Sight _marched across the Bridge to where Kalleem stood and eager look on his face. "Ship master Kalleem" he stated, "It would be recommended that you take a dozen of our Spirit and Phantom and head to the location of the Destroyer before the humans take notice of us."

Kalleem nodded, "Thank you Ship master Shavil for allowing me to take your troops."

Ship master Shavil smiled, "I do what I can for the glory of the Covenant Ship master Kalleem. We will contact High Charity and have them send the rest of our forces."

"Good. No doubt these humans will send for assistance, and we will need everything we can get."

At that last word Kalleem turned his back on the Sangheili and headed for the hangars, excited to get onto the planet surface and search for the Forerunner weapon. When he entered, the hangar was bustling with activity as Huragok and the bug like Yam'ne equipped the twelve drop ships for the battle. Over all there would be a hundred troops comprising almost every species in the Covenant from the common Unggoy to the flight capable Yam'ne to the monstrous Mega-Lekgolo. Not to mention the Huragok had equipped the Drop ships with three Wraiths, four Ghosts and two Revenants which would provide them with some much needed firepower if they came up against any fierce opposition.

Kalleem marched toward the lead Phantom and climbed aboard. For the time being, the drop ship was empty except for the pilot seated in the cockpit. He keyed open the door and the Sangheili turned in his chair.

"Are we almost ready for take off?" Kalleem asked the pilot.

The Sangheili looked unsure, "yes Ship master, but we have an entire planet to cover, how will we be able to even find the Destroyer?"

The pilot had a point. The humans had a head start on them, but with the help of a luminary they could track the humans and beat them to the Destroyer. They had no leads to go on, so it was possible that the humans already knew where the weapon was and were currently seeking it out.

"Activate the drop ship's luminary and locate the humans on the surface" Kalleem said, "we must prevent them from finding the Destroyer, and we might even find some clues to its whereabouts in the process."

The Sangheili turned in his seat to follow out his orders. He activated the onboard luminary and a small hologram of the planet sprung to life. Kalleem moved closer, searching for the four Reclamation glyphs. Oddly there was only three now, the other one must have left the planet. But the other three were no where near where they were before. They had somehow made it from the northern region to the center region of the planet in the time it took Kalleem to get from the bridge to the hangar. He ignored this and refocused on the matter at hand.

"There" he said, pointing to the three glyphs, "We will go there and stop the humans before they can find the weapon."

"Yes ship master."

Kalleem turned and left the cockpit, finding that the drop ship had filled with several Sangheili, two dozen Yam'ne and many Unggoy. They were ready, Kalleem knew that for sure, and no matter how skilled these humans may be they will stop at nothing until the Destroyer was theirs.

* * *

Cris opened up communications with the _Righteous Justice_ as he flew the Saurora out of Taxyra's atmosphere, tears welling up in his eyes. They were there not even a minute before he went to prepare the ship for lift off, but when he came back they were gone. He had no idea what could have happened to them, he would have heard their screams had those little creatures got hold of them. If they hadn't been killed by those things, then where did they go? He had tried raising them on his comlink but all he had heard was static, which was never a good sign.

A voice cracked over the communications system, "Saurora, this is Commander Oroli, what's your situation?"

Cris gulped before responding into his headset, "sir when my team and I landed on the planet surface we were ambushed by a large group of creatures. There was too many of them so we planned to bug out. But after I prepped the ship for launch, I found that everyone else had disappeared. I fear that the creatures got them sir."

The comm. line was silent for a minute. "Alright son, take it easy. Have you tried contacting them on your comlink?"

"Yes sir, but all I got was static."

"Ok, come back to the _Justice_ and we will try raising them on the long range comlink" said Keth "It could be possible that they're somewhere where low powered comm. units can't communicate to one another."

"I hope your right sir" said Cris, "I'll be there in a minute."

He reached over to deactivate the comlink but stopped in his tracks when a flash in the distance caught his attention. He activated the long range sensors and increased the magnification to its highest. He sighed with annoyance at the image of five Covenant cruisers shown on the main display.

"Commander Oroli, are you still there?" he asked into his headset.

"I'm here son, what's the problem?"

"Sir I just spotted five Covenant ships entering the system" Cris stated, "I think we should give Admiral Ordona a call, we might need her help if they bring in any more ships."

"Thanks for the heads up Cris" said Keth, "get up here soon, I don't want you caught in the crossfire when the battle starts."

"Yes sir." Cris gunned the throttle and the Saurora leapt forward, shortening the distance between it and the Righteous Justice in the blink of an eye. As Cris directed the Saurora towards the hangar, some movement at the top of the viewport caught his attention. Cris pulled the ship up just in time to see a dozen purple Covenant drop ships soaring far above the Justice, heading toward Taxyra at top speed.

Cris rushed the Saurora inside the hangar and landed quickly. The moment the landing gear touched the metal floor, Cris was out of his seat and running down the loading ramp. He booked it to the bridge, arriving exhausted and out of breath.

Keth came jogging over, a worried look on his face, "Cris what's the matter?"

Cris gulped down air, trying to slow the rapid pulse of his heart, "the Covenant just launched a wave of drop ships. If my sister and the others are still alive down there then we need to warn them."

Keth gripped Cris's shoulder firmly, "we'll warn them Cris. We were able to track your sister's comlink to the planet's equator. Don't ask how they got that far from your drop point so fast since she has yet to answer."

Cris nodded, slightly confused but relieved that they had located his sister. Keth directed Cris toward the comm. station where two ensigns worked frantically with its controls. All of a sudden there was a loud beep and Helen's face appeared in hologram form over the station.

"Cris, you can't believe what happened to us, we..."

"Are you all alright?" Cris interrupted.

Helen was taken aback, "uh ya, we're fine."

"Helen listen, the Covenant did make it off Abian IV with the location of this system" Cris said to her, "they're here, and I think they're sending a fleet of drop ships to your location. We're going to contact Admiral Ordona to see if she can get here any earlier, but for now you're going to be on your own."


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Index

"Thanks Cris" Helen said over the comlink, "I'll tell everything later. Good luck up there."

"Will do" Cris's hologram said with a smile, "to be honest, I thought those things took you. You don't know how glad I am to see you."

Helen smiled back, "Well it's going to take more than an army of Flood to put me out of commission."

Cris made a confused face.

"Uh, I'll fill you in later" Helen said.

"Sure, keep an eye out for the Covenant."

Helen turned off her comlink and stuffed it in her pocket. She turned and looked at her companions. They were staring in amazement at the building they now found themselves in. It was probably a hundred times bigger than the control room they were just in, with small tunnels leading off in different directions

"Hey Fire" Jason said to the monitor which floated several feet from his face, "where is this Index thing you were talking about?"

"This way Reclaimers" Fire said as it started floating towards one of the nearby tunnels, "a word of caution Reclaimers, this area has been compromised by the Flood. The installation's sentinel drones will be along shortly to assist you, but until then you must provide your own defences against the Parasite."

"Great" Trepid scoffed as they entered the dark tunnel, "After all we were doing so well on our own last time."

Jason and Trepid activated their light sabres to provide them with some light, but soon realized this was unnecessary when a dim light from the next room could be seen at the end of the tunnel. The four of them emerged into an equally large chamber with a large pit at the center with a small red object floating over the middle of it.

"That is the Index" stated Fire, gazing with its large green eye at the red glowing object.

"How do we get it?" Helen asked.

"We must proceed to the top floor where we may deactivate the energy barrier surrounding the Index. Any other attempts at removing the Index would result in damage to either the remover or the Index, which would be unacceptable."

Jason looked up, barely able to make out the ceiling of the library in the dim light, "we need to go all the way up there?"

"Yes Reclaimer, we must move quickly. No doubt the Flood has taken notice to our presence."

Leading the way, Fire took them into another small hallway which brought them to a large passageway leading deep into the Library. Fire continued to take them forward into the Forerunner complex, not seeming to notice the sloshing sounds of Flood moving about the darkness.

Jason, Helen and Trepid all retrieved their weapons, waiting for the Flood's inevitable attack. When the four of them reach a massive metal door, it happened. Combat forms of all shapes and sizes crawled out of ventilation shafts and launched themselves at the three humans. Trepid held out his hand and destroyed half of them with a powerful wave of force lightning, while Helen fired round after round at the rest.

When some of the combat forms were close enough Jason joined the fight. He hacked and slashed at the creatures, taking them down one by one. Helen once again resorted to her vibro blade, fighting side by side with Jason to push the Flood back.

Behind them, it seemed Fire had opened the large door. In the midst of the battle, the three of them retreated into the next passage and held off the combat forms as Fire closed the door. When the metal door clanged shut, Jason and Trepid moved forward to take down the last combat forms that had made it through in time.

When the last Flood form fell they all stood there panting from the fight. Had Fire not opened the door, they probably wouldn't have made it. They were quick to catch their breath with Fire's non stop talking about their close proximity to Flood.

"Hey Fire, can I ask you some questions?" Helen queried as they reached a massive metal elevator.

"Of course Reclaimer" Fire said happily as the elevator began moving slowly upwards.

"What is this library used for?"

"Originally this structure was used to store and protect the activation Index. But after the Destroyer Installations were repurposed as M-type Installations, this library was where my makers did their studies on the Flood."

"One more question, why do you keep calling us Reclaimers?" she inquired.

"Reclaimers are beings selected by my makers to reclaim and use their left over technology. Only a Reclaimer can activate this installation, and only a Reclaimer can activate the Halos in the case the Flood are released into the galaxy once more."

To Helen this wasn't much in the way of an explanation, but it was better than nothing. The three of them were human, so Helen figured the Forerunners chose the human species to be their Reclaimers. She could of course be wrong, but that was the only conclusion she could come to at the moment.

The elevator stopped and the four of them stepped off into another passage. Almost instantly another horde of Flood combat forms was on top of them, and they weren't alone. Skittering along the metal floor and walls were dozens of the smaller infection forms. Jason and Trepid formed a defensive barrier between Helen and the Flood, allowing her to take shots at the infection forms while they dealt with the combat forms.

Jason and Trepid fought well together, and kept the Flood at bay. But they were beginning to loose ground. Slowly the Flood were pushing them back towards the elevator. Then, just like before in the clearing, several streams of energy showered down from above. They all looked up and were greeted by thirty of the triangular machines the monitor called sentinels. The sentinels flew down and pushed the Flood back into the passage with their beam weapons, where they forced the Flood forms to flee.

With their new found allies, the four of them made it through the rest of the library with ease. They encountered wave after wave of Flood, but they were no match against two force users and a fleet of sentinels.

At last, Jason, Helen, Trepid and the monitor entered the last metal door and set foot onto a large circular metal plate, suspended a hundred meters above the Index below. When they approached the center of the plate, a bright blue light erupted from the ceiling to meet the small hole in the plate's center and immediately the plate began to lower itself towards the Index.

As they descended, the sentinels circled over head, blasting away any infection forms that dared to get too close. Finally, the plate traversed its last several feet, with the index floating inside the hole at the center. Jason moved forward to take it, and as his hand neared it a smaller object ejected from the top. He reached out and pulled the index from it's casing like a sword from its scabbard.

"Got it" Jason said with relief.

The monitor floated over and grabbed the index out of his hand with a small tractor beam. The index floated up and inside a small storage compartment on the machines backside.

"Hey" Jason said with surprise.

"Forgive me Reclaimer, but according to protocol I am required to posses the activation Index during transit, for security reasons of course."

Jason was about to say something back when a not too distant roar drew his attention. He had heard those roars several times before, and he knew they had to get out of there fast.

"Fire, get us out of here" Jason demanded.

"Once again I am sorry Reclaimer, but there is a stasis field surrounding this area preventing my access to the teleportation grid. We must return to the room we began in if we wish to leave."

* * *

Kalleem was anxious to get on the ground, knowing the Destroyer was well within his grasp. With little patience he decided to check up on the pilot, just to get an idea of how long it would take them to reach the humans' location. He moved past several Kig-Yar and opened the door to the cramped cockpit. The pilot turned quickly before refocusing on flying the Phantom.

"Ship master, is there a problem?"

Kalleem shook his head, "no, no problems. I just felt like checking on our progress."

The pilot tapped away at several controls, opening the viewport up larger, "well you are in luck ship master, we have nearly reached our destination."

Kalleem stared out the viewport at a massive Forerunner structure jutting out of the planet's thick brown foliage. It was even more majestic than the Silent Cartographer, with its two large metal arms arching up to meet in the middle and a bright shaft of light shining out of the circular roof just below the arms.

As they got closer, Kalleem was able to see much of the structure was buried under this world's dense brown plant life. Even so he could still see the structure's gradual slope down towards the ground, with little points of artificial light peeking through cracks in the metal.

"Ship master we will have to set down a fair distance from the structure" said the pilot, "the foliage is too dense to set down anywhere closer. One of the other drop ships located a reasonably large clearing where we can drop you off; unfortunately you will need to approach the target on foot."

Kalleem growled with annoyance, "fine. Get us on the ground soon. We cannot let the humans escape."

With one last look at the Forerunner structure, Kalleem left the cockpit and re-entered the troop bay, where many of his soldiers waited patiently to be released onto the world below. Kalleem leaned against the bulkhead and waited.

As it turned out, he didn't need to wait long at all. The pilot's voice soon crackled over the intercom, telling them to prepare themselves for the drop. Kalleem retrieved his plasma repeater from its holster on his back and gripped it tightly as the bay doors opened.

The troop bay quickly emptied as its occupants jumped from the troop bay to the brown soil beneath the Phantom while around them the other drop ships were doing the same. Almost every species within the Covenant stood in the clearing, some standing idly by as they waited for orders, others assisting the drop ship personnel with disengaging the vehicles stored under some of the ships.

Kalleem surveyed the planet surface, intrigued by its odd colour and putrid stench. It was odd, he had never seen anything like the plant life on this world before. He suppressed his curiosity and watched as the last drop ship detached its Wraith and ascended back into orbit.

When they were all ready Kalleem addressed his troops, "Brothers. Today is a day we will become heroes. The humans are spread wide across this galaxy. But together, we will find the ancient weapon and use its power to cleanse this galaxy of their heresy. Let us go forth together, and fulfil our destinies as the instruments of the gods!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, even the Mega-Lekgolo and Jiralhanae. Kalleem hopped aboard the nearest Revenant took to co-pilot seat, while a younger Sangheili major took the controls. Slowly, Kalleem's small army neared the tree line, which up close looked more like a wall than anything.

"Ship master" said the pilot seated beside him, "how do we get through?"

"Use the mortars" Kalleem said "They should be enough to get us to the structure ahead."

The Sangheili nodded and stood up in his seat, "Wraiths ready!" he called out. The three Wraiths powered up their main weapons and waited for Kalleem's signal. He nodded to the pilot and the Sangheili relayed the order to the tanks. "Fire!" he called.

The three Wraiths boomed and three lobs of plasma arched overhead and impacted the dense cluster of trees with a flash of light. Kalleem watched as the trees began to burn under the intense heat from the plasma, eventually making a small pathway which they could now march through.

As one the army moved forward into the opening as the Wraiths continued to blow away more trees further ahead. So far everything was going smoothly, but as they continued toward the structure, Kalleem kept getting a nagging feeling that something wasn't right.

He was getting the urge to look over his shoulder, as if someone or something was following them. At last he gave in and turned in his seat. It seemed he wasn't the only one with this feeling. Several of the Kig-Yar and Unggoy were getting agitated, their eyes darting from shadow to shadow, searching for something.

That's when he saw it. Movement amongst the trees, barely even a shadow. It wasn't human; no human was the size of what he saw. But it wasn't any of his troops; they were all marching along the artificial pathway. No, whatever Kalleem had seen was something else. Something that had yet to decide if Kalleem and his soldiers were friend of foe.

As the convoy moved forward they eventually entered a large clearing at the base of the structure. Kalleem dismounted the Revenant and began walking toward a large door positioned directly in front of them, eager to get inside.

Large brown creatures suddenly surged from the tree line, long sharp tentacles extending from their appendages and cracking like whips. They went after the first victims that happened to cross their sights, which in this case was a squad of Unggoy. The methane breathers stood their ground, firing their needlers and plasma pistols at the oncoming creatures, but this barely even slowed them.

As the creatures got closer, the Unggoy broke ranks and ran. The Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar reacted as the Unggoy fled, firing spikers and needle rifles, and this time causing some damage. Here and there, bodies exploded in a shower of pink mist from needle rifle rounds, while the rest were quickly mowed down by the spikers fired by the Jiralhanae.

When it seemed the struggle was over, all hell broke loose. More creatures converged on them from either side and a full scale battle began to rage. Kalleem took aim with his repeater and fired bright blue plasma at several oncoming creatures. When one shot smashed through the head of the nearest, a small round creature bursted from the torso and launched itself through the air towards Kalleem.

As Kalleem shot the little creature, he recognized it and the rest of the creatures for what they truly were. The Flood. In his youth he had been taught about the war between the Gods and the Flood, and how the parasite was really a small bulbous creature that buried itself in the torso of its host and took control of it completely.

Kalleem was now separated from the convoy, his back nearly touching the structure's entrance. Kalleem knew it would be a great risk but he had no choice. Still firing his repeater, Kalleem gripped his energy sword and activated it. He re-holstered his repeater and swung the sword, cutting through the many Flood forms. Pushing forward, he was able to hack his way through the Flood back to the relative safety of the convoy.

Kalleem slid behind the nearest Revenant, quickly hiding his sword from sight. Around him the other Revenants, Ghosts and Wraiths moved about the battlefield, blowing away Flood with their high powered weapons. Kalleem looked up and found his pilot dead behind the controls, a long needle shard jutting out of his back.

He didn't have any time to dwell on this as he jumped inside and kicked out the pilot. He took the controls and turned the vehicle around, aiming the cannon at a large group of Flood. He pulled the trigger and watched as the parasites melted from the extreme heat. Kalleem then moved around and assisted the Wraiths on the left side of the battlefield, wiping away numerous amounts of Flood.

Finally the last Flood form fell, giving Kalleem a chance to survey what was left of his small army. Most of the Unggoy were dead or carried away by the Flood; the same went for the Kig-Yar. The Yam'ne on the other hand hadn't lost any of their numbers, having been able to take to the skies out of the reach of the parasite. The Jiralhanae, Sangheili and Mega-Lekgolo lost few members as well, mainly due to their superior skills and equipment.

Finally having the chance, Kalleem left the Revenant to examine the entrance to the Forerunner structure. He approached slowly, wary of any more Flood. As he got closer he saw several interesting details, one of which being a small keypad shaped like a human hand. Kalleem reached out and touched it with his own three fingered hand. As he did, all of the lights around the door turned red followed by a small beep.

Kalleem growled and walked back to the convoy. He approached the nearest Wraith and called out to its driver. A Sangheili in dark purple armour pulled back the canopy and stuck his head out, a curious look on his face.

"What do you need Ship master?"

"We will require you to blast a hole through that door" said Kalleem, "there is no other way to get to the humans otherwise."

The Sangheili driver was obviously uncomfortable with this idea, "but ship master, that is a sacred relic of the gods. We..."

"Don't you think I know that?" Kalleem snapped, "forgiveness will be given to those who strike down the enemies of our gods. Now, you will open that door or be charged with heresy."

The Sangheili gulped, "yes Ship master."

As the Wraith got into position, Kalleem rounded up the rest of the Sangheili and Jiralhanae and positioned them near the door for a quick entry, while charging the Yam'ne and Mega-Lekgolo with guarding the entrance from anymore Flood.

The Wraith powered up its cannon and fired a glob of plasma at the metal door. The instant the plasma touched its surface, it began to melt. When hole was big enough, Kalleem and his troops stepped through and into the darkness.

Slowly and quietly, they made their way through a maze of halls and small corridors, always going deeper into the complex. After five minutes of walking Kalleem opened a small door and entered a cavernous room extending many stories above their heads. He swore he could hear faint voices off in the distant and with his squad at his heels, they entered the room cautiously. Kalleem gazed up at the ceiling, amazed at the beauty of the structure, even in the dark.

Suddenly one of his Sangheili comrades cried out. Kalleem whirled around to see one of the small Flood forms gripping onto his neck, trying to insert its sharp tentacles into the Sangheili's exposed skin. One of his fellows gripped the Flood form and tore it off, causing it to pop loudly in his hands.

As if on cue with the first, hundreds of the small Flood forms came crawling across the metal floor towards them. Kalleem pulled the trigger of his repeater, but stopped when something else crossed his vision. Three familiar faced humans came filing through a small side passage and stood watching Kalleem and his soldiers combat the many Flood.

Kalleem roared with anger, recognizing them as the same humans Salleema had faced ten cycles ago. He threw his repeater to the ground, ignoring the Flood around him, and charged toward the humans. With his sword hilt gripped tightly in his hand, Kalleem prepared himself for whatever these humans could throw at him. Then, as he got within ten feet of the humans, they all began to glow bright yellow.

He had no idea what kind of trick this could be, but in a split second he changed his plan and jumped toward the human on the right. But instead of slashing at the human like he originally planned, he dove and tackled him to the ground. But when Kalleem got up to attack with his sword, he found that he was no longer in the same room as before.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: War

Cris exited the bridge, his mind reflecting on his new orders. With the Covenant in the system, they would need every available pilot if they wanted to survive until Admiral Ordona arrived with her fleet. Cris didn't want to leave his sister and the others, but by fending off the rest of the Covenant fleet it would almost guarantee more forces wouldn't be able to get to the planet surface.

He made his way back to the main hangar, but instead of heading up the Saurora's boarding ramp he hung a right towards the star fighter launch bay. It had been a while since he had flown one of the Republic's Aurek Tactical strikefighters, A-wings for short, but he was confident it would come back to him in a flash. As he neared the star fighters, a man clad in a dark red flight suit approached him.

"Are you Cris?" asked one of them. Cris nodded, wondering what he wanted.

"Name's Evir" the man introduced, reaching out to shake Cris's hand "Commander Keth notified me that you would be joining our strike team."

Cris shook his hand and grinned, "Thanks. So when do we launch?"

"As soon as possible, we're running on a tight schedule so we need to get ready now."

Cris nodded, "you got it."

Five minutes later Cris was seated aboard his own A-wing star fighter, his hands dancing across the controls to adjust them to his preference and prepare the pre-flight checklist. His head flicked up as Evir's voice spoke across the team comlink.

"Strike team Epsilon check in"

Cris listened as each of the team's members checked in until he was the only one left, "Epsilon seven checking in."

"Alright boys" said Evir, "let's punch it"

One by one strike team Epsilon launched their A-wings from the hangar, exploding into the darkness of space. Cris followed the other pilots as they cruised past the three Republic cruisers and set their course to approach the small fleet of Covenant ships ahead. Behind them, over two hundred other A-wing fighters took flight and joined them in a classic cavalry charge toward the enemy.

In the distance, Cris could see a large fleet of Seraph fighters coming in their direction. He activated the weapons systems and removed the safeties on the six proton torpedoes in the missile bay. The two fleet of star fighters got closer and closer, putting Cris on edge. When his targeting system beeped, telling him the Seraphs were in range, he pulled the trigger tightly.

Plasma and laser bolts crisscrossed the space between the two fleets, blowing apart A-wings and Seraphs alike. Cris released the trigger as the two fleets intertwined, sending fighters crashing into one another. Cris soared around the Seraphs, taking shots at any enemy fighters that crossed his sights.

Plasma bolts shot past his viewport, narrowly missing the cockpit. In his rear display screen Cris could see three Seraphs hot on his tail. He tried shaking them by leading them back into the thick of the carnage, flipping and rolling to dodge their plasma and other fighters. But this seemed ineffective since the Seraphs were still following him, and getting closer.

Cris turned the A-wing and saw the Covenant cruisers had moved closer, trying to get in range of the Republic ships. Cris swerved out of the way as another stream of plasma flew his way. They were getting better at this, and he knew this wouldn't last long unless he could find a way to fight back. Suddenly, the three fighters exploded in a shower of metal and plasma. A lone A-wing blew through the debris field behind him and accelerated to catch up to him.

"The commander put you in our squad for exactly this reason Cris" said a frustrated Evir across the comlink, "you should have called us for help."

Cris shook his head, "sorry Evir, I forgot about you guys."

"Well you won't need to worry about that now. The rest of the team has split off to do their own thing; I'm sticking with you until I say otherwise."

"Yes sir" Cris mumbled into his headset.

Following Evir's lead, the two of them dove towards one of the Covenant cruisers. When they came within two hundred meters of the ship Evir fired off two of his torpedoes, causing the ship's powerful shields to flare with the impact. But Cris let his finger hover the trigger, waiting. When the ship fired off several blasts of plasma Cris let his torpedoes fly. Three proton torpedoes soared past where the ship's shields should have been, and blew a massive hole in the shiny purple hull.

The two of them pulled out of the dive as the cruiser's shields reactivated.

"How did you get through those shields?" Evir asked across the comlink.

"They need to drop their shields when they fire their weapons" Cris explained, "if you can time it right you can manage to cause a good bit of damage."

The two of them soared around and spotted several more Seraphs attempting to take down a small squad of A-wings. Cris and Evir moved in fast, blasting the Seraphs to bits and allowing their comrades to escape.

Cris soared through the Seraphs' debris field and almost cried out with relief as he spotted a fleet of ten Republic ships dropping out of Hyperspace not too far in the distance. It seemed Admiral Ordona arrived just in time.

The ten ships quickly rallied its forces and launched what seemed like a hundred A-wings into the battle, annihilating the rest of the Seraphs in a matter of seconds. The Republic cruisers moved in behind the fighters, either disabling of completely destroying the five Covenant capital ships.

Roars of cheers swept across the open comm. line, overjoyed that they had won with barely any losses. Cris was relieved they would finally have the chance to go and extract Helen, knowing they could use some help if the Covenant forces had found them. Then, as Cris and his wingman turned to head back to the _Righteous Justice,_ several flashes of light drew their focus.

At least thirty Covenant cruisers and five Carrier ships emerged from Slipspace, their plasma weapons powering up for the battle. Cris and Evir gaped at the sheer size of the enemy fleet, but when they thought this was the entire fleet, they were sadly mistaken.

A massive Slipspace rupture opened up behind the Covenant's main fleet, shining like a small star. Materializing from the bright white hole emerged a space station unlike anything Cris had seen before. It looked like a ball with spikes sticking out all over, but one of the spikes stood out amongst the rest. It couldn't be mistaken for the deadly weapon that it was.

The massive cannon made up at least half of the station's mass, aiming dangerously at Admiral Ordona's fleet. The fleet attempted to move out of the way as the cannon powered up, but it was useless.

The weapon fired a bright blue stream of plasma directly at the fleet, wiping away half the ships in the blink of an eye. When the cannon ceased firing there was nothing left of the ships that had been enveloped by it's energy, just a few specks of dust.

Cris was left dumbstruck. How could they compete against something of that size and power? It would have taken the entire Republic navy to even come close to the weapon that stood before them. It seemed to him that they have failed this mission as well.

* * *

Jason felt the air rush from his lungs as the Sangheili drove him into the ground. He hadn't even seen the alien charge toward them earlier; he had been too transfixed on the battle between the Flood and the Covenant to notice.

The Sangheili raised an energy sword hilt, ready to activate it and deliver a killing blow, but stopped when he realized where they were. Fire had teleported them back the control room just as the alien had grabbed him, thus taking the Sangheili along for the ride.

While the Sangheili was distracted Jason extended his hand, force pushing the alien across the control room. The Sangheili tumbled head over heel, nearly falling over the catwalk's edge and plummeting to his death.

Jason leapt to his feet and drew his light sabre. Several feet to his left, Helen and Trepid were also taking out their weapons, but Jason held his hand out to stop them.  
"No" Jason said, "He's mine."

The Sangheili jumped to his feet and ignited his energy sword. Right away Jason knew this alien was different. Most Sangheilies wielded oddly shaped energy swords that stretched outward, but this one was different. This one carried an energy sword designed similar to Jason's, where the blade ejects parallel to the hilt.

"Listen to me Sangheili" Jason demanded, "I know we conflict with your religion, but there is something out there far more threatening than any us. I know that you know about the Flood. It survived the activation of the Halos; it is the enemy here, not us."

The Sangheili growled deeply, "my name is Kalleem 'Lanuntee!" he stated loudly, his accent slightly slurring his words, "Your people killed my mentor ten cycles ago. The parasite can wait, so long as I may avenge my mentor's death with your own!"

Kalleem lunged forward, clearing the distance between him and Jason in several long strides. Jason was caught off guard by the alien's speed, and just barely dodged his slash to the chest.

The battle raged across the catwalk of the control room, with both Jedi and Sangheili matching each other strike for strike. Jason jabbed toward Kalleem's chest, but the alien side stepped gracefully and grabbed Jason's wrist tightly.

With an enormous heave Kalleem attempted to throw him over the catwalk to the pit below. But Jason had the force on his side. When the Sangheili released him, he used the force like a cushion to slow himself, stopping him just short of the catwalk's edge.

With a moan Jason climbed to his feet, knowing better than to have fallen for such an amateur mistake. Kalleem was on top of him in seconds, hacking and slashing with his sword but never laying a blow.

The two of them were evenly matched. Kalleem had speed and strength on his side, while Jason had the power of the force fuelling him on. The two of them clashed blades and locked eyes with each other, knowing one of them would have to give in.

Kalleem then lashed out with his hoofed foot and sent Jason flying into the main holographic control panel. Kalleem slashed down towards Jason, who moved away just as the Sangheili's blade cut through the control panel, causing the hologram of Taxyra to flicker uncontrollably.

Jason slashed at Kalleem's open side as the alien pulled his blade from the control interface. But all this did was anger the Sangheili as Jason's blade made contact with Kalleem's shields. Kalleem pushed Jason back towards the edge of the catwalk, giving him barely any room to manoeuvre. This was it. If Jason couldn't finish this now then he was done for. Kalleem swung at his head but Jason narrowly avoided it and slid beneath the Sangheili's legs. Kalleem didn't see this coming and tried to slash behind his back, but he had no chance. Jason was up on his feet in a flash and plunged his light sabre into Kalleem's back. He cut through Shield, armour and flesh with relative ease.

Kalleem had failed. He never even had the chance to see the great weapon constructed by the Forerunners. And yet, he was satisfied that all his heresy, his dishonour and betrayal would die alongside him. He would be remembered as a hero who died honourably. No one would know of the crimes he had committed, only the great deeds he had done in the name of the gods. He would die a liar, but a hero nonetheless.

Jason stepped back as Kalleem's lifeless body fell over the side of the catwalk to the dark abyss below, never to be seen again. He felt sorry for the alien. Revenge for his mentor had driven him to the point where he carelessly threw his life away.

Jason turned to face Helen and Trepid, a look of remorse spread across his aging face. Helen walked over and pulled him into a comforting hug. Jason was glad to have her. She was the best thing about his life, and he knew he would never let her go.

Trepid watched from a distance as Helen and Jason hugged warmly, then turned away to find Fire. The monitor was going crazy over the damage the Sangheili caused to the command interface.

"No, this cannot be" the machine muttered to itself, "Orbital defensive grid and primary Security systems inaccessible. Oh what a travesty, these meddlers are most troublesome."

"Monitor" Trepid said quietly so Jason and Helen wouldn't hear. The machine stopped muttering and looked at Trepid with its large green eye.

"yes Reclaimer what is it?"

Trepid dug in his pocket and pulled out a small data pad. He held it up for the monitor to see. "I need you to transfer a copy of this installation's schematics to my data pad. Can you do that?"

"Certainly Reclaimer" said Fire, taking the data pad out of his hand with its small tractor beam. Several seconds later the monitor handed the data pad back to Trepid, its job complete.

"I am sorry to say Reclaimer" Fire said sadly, "there was not enough storage space for me to include this installation's teleportation and Slipspace transportation data."  
Trepid frowned, but didn't care much as long as he had everything else. Helen and Jason had finally let go of each other and began walking toward Trepid and Fire. The Sith slipped the data pad out of sight from the others as they got closer.

"What's the damage report Fire?" Jason asked as he stared at the damaged terminal.

"That part of the Terminal allowed access to the defensive systems" said the monitor, "without it we will be unable to initiate this installation's primary containment protocols. We must overload this installation's main weapon to cause meltdown of the core power systems. This will cause the installation to detonate, destroying any chances the Flood will have at escaping."

Helen sighed, "how come we never get the easy jobs?" she asked jokingly.

"Maybe you're just unlucky" Jason said with a smirk.

Helen was about to respond when her comlink started beeping. She pulled it out and answered the call. She was expecting to see her brother but was instead greeted by Keth.

"Helen we have a problem" Keth said seriously. Trepid shook his head, barely believing the luck they were having lately.

"The Covenant brought a massive space station with a weapon that's tearing the fleet to pieces" Keth explained, "Admiral Ordona arrived not too long ago but even she doesn't have the firepower to match this thing. We called for reinforcements but as it turns out the Covenant have engaged our fleets across nine systems. They even removed the blockade around Korriban to assist an engagement in the Gradilis Sector. We will continue to do what we can but if things keep going the way they are, then I doubt we will be able to survive this battle, let alone send a drop ship for extraction."

Helen sighed, "Its ok Keth, we'll find a way off. But at the moment we have our own problems."

Jason looked at Helen then at the damaged consol. Jason moved up beside Helen so Keth could see him, "Keth I know how we can take down that space station. There's no time to explain, just move the fleet away from the planet. Make sure it isn't between the station and the planet. We'll call back in a couple minutes when we're ready."

Keth hesitated but relented, "ok Jason, I trust you." Jason felt a pang of guilt go through him, remembering the last time Keth had trusted him ended with his sister's death. He was touched that Keth could muster up the courage to trust him with the lives of the entire fleet.

"It'll take at least ten minutes to get the fleet into position" said Keth "so I'll check back then."

Jason nodded gratefully, "thanks Keth, we'll be ready when you are."

Keth smiled before his hologram winked out. Helen stuffed the comlink back in to her pocket, and looked at Jason.

"What exactly are you planning?" she asked curiously.

Jason ignored her and moved closer to the control consol, "Fire if we use the Index would we still be able to use the installation's main weapon?"

The monitor floated closer, the Index emerging from the compartment on its back. "Of course Reclaimer" said Fire, the Index gripped in its tractor beam, "But I do not understand. The weapon will not aid our efforts in preventing the spread of the Flood."

Jason shook his head and took the Index from Fire, "I'm not thinking about using against the Flood." He stepped up to the control interface and spotted a hole that would fit the Index. With one last look at the object in his hand he slid it into the consol. The moment the Index came into contact with the control interface, the entire thing brightened. With Fire's assistance Jason set to work accessing the terminal which hadn't been used in nearly a hundred thousand years.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Devastation

Cris fired off the last of his torpedoes and blew a reasonably sized hole in one of the space station's spires, causing the weapon at the end to start venting bright blue plasma into space.

The station may have possessed incredible firepower but it lacked defensive shields, allowing the many weapons to fire whenever required. This meant if a star fighter could get close enough, they could easily punch a hole in the station's hull with a well aimed torpedo.

Cris pulled away from the station, barely missing several plasma bolts fired from another spire. He cursed under his breath and yanked on the steering yolk, bringing him up beside Evir.

"Stang that was too close" said Evir.

Cris looked at his comrade's fighter and noticed several shallow plasma burn marks scattered across his left wing.

"You're telling me" Cris agreed, remembering a near collision with one of the spires, "Should we have a go at that main weapon?"

Evir was silent for a moment, "No can do Cris. Commander Keth wants all ships to move away from the Covenant fleet as soon as possible."

Cris wasn't surprised, "we're retreating?"

"I don't think so, just repositioning the fleet. General Skye and the others want to link up with the rest of Ordona's ships a good distance away from the Covenant. They want us to provide covering fire to allow Ordona's fleet to get away."

"Man, that's not going to be easy" Cris said nervously.

"You're telling me, that station destroyed half our fighters when it first arrived. Not to mention if we don't get the fleet out of range from it, that cannon will wipe it from existence in a matter of seconds."

The two of them fell into silence, manoeuvring around Covenant ships, causing as much chaos as they could to give the fleet a chance to escape. When most of the ships had made it out of the battlefield, Cris let out a sigh of relief. But when he and Evir brought their fighters around to buzz another large Carrier ship he almost wept.

The space station was powering up its main weapon, aiming it directly at the vulnerable Republic ships attempting to flee. It was a coward's tactic, striking down their opponents when their back is turned. Cris and Evir could only watch as the station prepared to strike their allies.

Then out of nowhere, a Sith star destroyer dropped out of hyperspace and peppered the station with laser fire. Cris blinked a few times, hardly believing his eyes. The ship before him hadn't been seen for ten years, since the Sith disbanded their military, or at least since they claimed they disbanded it.

Cris wondered why and how the Sith had deployed a ship to this system. Then as Cris watched, another ten Sith destroyers dropped out of hyperspace behind the first, joining the fight with an unmatched brutality. Sith star fighters soared from hangars and assisted the Republic A-wings against the numerous Seraphs, dropping their powerful shield and turning them into small temporary suns.

The Sith and the Republic, who had fought against one another for so many millennia, joined together for the first time in history to push back an enemy they both shared. It seemed the Covenant didn't stand a chance against this surprise assault, at least until the space station's cannon swivelled around and pointed at Sith armada.

Many of the Sith ships manoeuvred out of the way, but four stragglers weren't so lucky. Just like before with Ordona's fleet, the star destroyers were blown away, leaving barely any trace of their existence.

No other help had come from the Republic, so the Sith came to assist them instead. Cris didn't know whether he should be happy or worried. The arrivals of the star destroyers showed that the Sith remained a powerful and dangerous threat. It was more than possible that they had more ships in reserve for later engagements. But even with these unexpected reinforcements it was evident they were losing.

As Cris and Evir flew near one of the surviving star destroyers, Keth's voice spoke from the ship's internal speakers.

"All fighters pull out" he said, "return to the fleet. We have contacted the Sith fleet and they will be moving to support us. Repeat, pull back to the fleet ASAP."

Cris was left wondering what could be so urgent that Keth would recall all of the fighters from the thick of battle. With one last shot at a crippled Seraph fighter, Cris and Evir made a break for the fleet along with the countless other A-wings and Sith fighters.

Nearing the fleet, Cris noticed something odd happening on Taxyra's brown surface. Something was happening in a massive crater located in the northern in hemisphere of the planet, causing an explosion of dirt and vegetation that soared high into the atmosphere. The dust cloud got larger until it enveloped the entire crater. He was curious about the anomaly, but soon forgot about it when his attention was brought back to the battle at hand.

Both sides ceased firing for the moment, but that would soon change. Cris spared a look at the Covenant space station. It's main cannon was powering up again, preparing to destroy what was left of the Republic and Sith forces. Cris knew they would need some sort of miracle if they were to survive.

"Well Cris" said Evir sadly, "I guess this is it. It was an honour to have flown by your side."

Cris closed his eyes, accepting this was the end for him, "thanks Evir, and the honour was all mine."

He opened his eyes for the last time and bravely stared down their distant enemies. The cannon continued to glow brighter, ensuring this single barrage would be sufficient enough to finish the job.

Then, as Cris waited for death to sweep him away, a light on nearby Taxyra took his attention from the space station. He was confused by the sight he saw.

Seven bright green lasers shot out from around the northern crater, each one meeting at a single point far above the atmosphere. When the lasers converged, a single long green laser shot out, heading directly toward the Covenant space station. The station didn't have the speed to evade the laser and took the blow head on.

The laser sliced right through the station's cannon, creating an expanding orange hole in it's purple hull. Cris assumed the laser hit something critical, because the next thing he knew a shockwave rippled across the station's surface, sending metal fragments flying into space that collided violently with nearby ships.

Fire lapped out of holes in the station but quickly disappeared from a lack of oxygen. The whole station shuddered like it was experiencing a massive earthquake, then finally exploded outward in a flash of light. Cris actually had to dodge several pieces of the station because the explosion was that powerful, sending debris flying at the Republic/Sith fleet. Some ships were hit, but not severely damaged.

Cris stared at what was left of the Covenant fleet. What just happened? He asked himself, how did that laser come out of the planet?

"Tell me you saw that" said an astonished Evir.

"I saw it" he confirmed, "I'm going to patch through to commander Keth, find out what the heck just happened."

He keyed in Keth's private number and waited for him to answer. The comlink beeped three before he finally answered. Cris didn't bother with formalities, "Keth, what was that thing?"

Keth was silent for a moment, "I think that was your team."

* * *

Jason backed away from the console, horrified by what he had just done. Moments earlier he could sense the minds of the space station's inhabitants subconsciously calling out through the force, then when the station exploded they went silent, the inhabitants becoming one with the force. Like in his exile, His mind was filled with conflicted voices once more, debating about whether the act he had committed was the right thing to do or not.

Behind him, Trepid smiled sadistically, whether it is from the arrival of his secret fleet or the destruction of their enemies was unclear.

Helen approached Jason from behind and gave him a reassuring hug. She turned him around and peered deep into his sad eyes.

"If you didn't do what you did then the human race would have had no chance" she said, "not only did you save the human race Jason, but you saved my brother, you saved Keth, Petria and even Keelu."

Jason's mind began to clear, his attention now completely focused on Helen.

"What you did was virtually the only thing you could have done to prevent the Covenant from getting a hold of the installation. You did the best you could with what you had."

Jason gulped, "I know."

He gently pushed himself from Helen as he looked around for Fire. The monitor was exactly where it had been, floating near the console, its eye poring over the various readouts highlighted on it's surface.

"It worked, right Fire?"

The monitor answered without looking at him, "oh yes, it worked well within normal parameters. But I must admit I did not expect the weapon to remain in such a state of functionality after all this time."

"Can we still overload it and destroy the flood?" Helen asked, leaning slightly against Jason's strong frame.

"Yes, of course. As a matter of fact, activating the weapon has already heated the power cores. This should make our objective much easier, not to mention the detonation of the cores will cause a much more powerful explosion than earlier calculations. I can now guarantee one hundred percent that destroying the installation will prevent any Flood from escaping."

Trepid looked at the monitor like it was joking, "so you thought that even if we destroy this thing there was a chance the Flood could have escaped anyway?"

Fire nodded enthusiastically, "yes Reclaimer. I previously mentioned the Flood's versatility and ability to adapt to most environments, including the vacuum of space. The explosion would have killed most of the parasite, but the rest could have possibly survived. But since your activation and use of the main weapon, my calculations show a detonation will ensure none of the parasite will be capable of survival. The Flood are versatile, but not invincible."

"How do we detonate the cores?" Jason asked.

"Each core has it's own power control terminal, we will be able to use one to overload a core" Fire explained, "If we overload one of them, then the rest will be quick to follow. There is only one problem. The teleportation grid doesn't support direct access to the cores, similar to how it didn't support access to much of the Library. We will be required to approach the cores on foot."

"Maybe I am unlucky" Helen whispered in Jason's ear. Jason cracked a small smile.

"Let's get this over with" Trepid said dully.

The yellow light surrounded them once more but Jason called out to Fire to stop. Almost instantly the light disappeared and Jason rounded on Trepid, one question still unanswered.

"Hang on. How did your fleet know where to find you? And why did they help us in the first place?" Jason asked suspiciously.

Trepid was silent for a moment, his red eyes regarding Jason and Helen, two people who were once enemies now allies. "Their being here was thanks to the second condition your _girlfriend_ accepted to" said Trepid, "The force gave me a premonition of the future just after the events on Abian IV. While it is an uncommon occurrence with us Sith, it does happen. The force showed me your Republic blockade leaving Korriban, along with the feeling that it would happen soon. When I contacted Korriban I told them to ready the fleet, wait for the blockade to leave and set course to Theelin where they would assist Republic forces against a far worst enemy."

Jason couldn't believe this, "and they trusted you? I mean we're enemies, why would all the people of the Sith trust you with allying themselves with the Republic?"

"Why would they trust me?" Trepid repeated, "Maybe because I'm their Emperor."

That surprised Jason. He had no idea Trepid was the new Sith emperor, but how could he? Cris was the first non Sith to land on Korriban's surface in ten years. Basically no information on the Sith had made it past the blockade, even leadership changes it seems.

"So, you want to help us fight the Covenant?" Helen asked incredulously.

"We have few ships" said Trepid, "that is only half of our fleet, but yes. We will assist you, under the condition that when this war is over the blockade will not return to our world, and we will be free to expand our military to how we see fit."

"I will be able to agree to your freedom Lord Trepid" Helen said slowly, "but I cannot agree to this condition. You must take this up with the Chancellor or the senate because I do not have the power to accept it."

Trepid gave a curt nod and turned to Fire, "let's go."

The bright yellow lights enveloped them and they were teleported from the control room to the center of the installation.

Jason blinked several time and was surprised to see the core of the installation was illuminated. Being a fully artificial structure, he knew it would be, but some part of him kept thinking they would be in the middle of a pitch dark tunnel surrounded by Flood.

Well, he got part of it correct. The massive tunnel they now found themselves in was about ten meters across and twenty feet high and was thick with flood forms of all shapes and sizes. Some were different types of infection forms but the majority were combat forms, which looked at them with a ravenous hunger.

But they didn't attack, as if something was holding them back. Then, they all heard a voice. only the voice seemed to be in their heads, not outside. Jason could sense that It spoke to them through the force.

Children of my enemies, I ask you: why resist? Those who came before were fools to repel my might, and I offered them destruction. But I offer you peace.

"What is that Fire?" Jason asked nervously, his hand reaching for his lightsaber.

The voice responded before the monitor, filling their minds with its loud, deep words. I? I am the monument to all your sins

_Great answer_, Jason thought sarcastically.

"The Gravemind" explained the monitor, "I told you the Flood has a collective intelligence. It must have compiled enough sentient intelligence to become self aware. This happens whenever the Flood has absorbed a large amount of biomass or a fair amount of intelligent species. The Gravemind is the Core of the Flood's intelligence and has the ability to communicate to the beings that it hasn't yet absorbed. During the time of my makers, the Gravemind successfully converted the AI 05-032 Mendicant Bias, an example of the persuasiveness of the Gravemind. I am slightly surprised it has taken this long for the Gravemind to present itself, considering the amount of biomass the Flood has already consumed.

all I ask is you join us. said the Gravemind in a deep rumbling voice I am the next stage in the evolution for all species in the universe. Why deny yourself the blissful eternity you may experience with the countless others that came before you?

Helen raised her rifle as the Flood forms slowly converged on them from all sides, "This is going to be a problem."


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Destroyer

Helen fired at the first combat form that leapt at them, creating a gaping burn hole in its chest. The flood form fell to the ground as the infection form in its chest popped and died. Jason and Trepid both ignited their lightsabers, hacking and slashing at Flood as surged toward them. Infection forms popped, combat forms fell into heaps on the ground, and large round carrier forms that they hadn't encountered before exploded, sending infection forms flying from their insides.

Fire floated several feet above the carnage, watching with his large green eye. Jason only hoped the monitor was calling some sentinels for help. Back in the library they had fared much better with their silent robotic comrades, but now they were surrounded, outnumbered and even outgunned.

Pink needler rounds flew from the hand of one of the combat forms. Jason barely blocked the shots and turned, expecting to see one of the colourful Covenant Unggoy, but was horrified to see the attacker was also infected by the parasite. He glanced around and spotted the familiar shapes of other infected Covenant also wielding the same weapons they had when they died.

Jason would have swapped the Flood for the Covenant any day. The covenant had physical limits, but the Flood didn't stop fighting until their death.

The three of them fought bravely, but the Flood continued to push them back until their backs were touching one another.

"We need to get out of here!" cried Helen.

Jason looked around as he fought and finally spotted two thin catwalks lining the top of the tall hallway. He nudged Trepid and Helen behind him and pointed up. They both nodded and continued to fight.

Without any hesitation, Jason force jumped up to the catwalk and sheathed his light sabre. He looked over the railing and called on the force, pulling Helen up from the battle while she sent blaster bolt after blaster bolt into the wall of Flood.

With no one but the Flood around him, Trepid utilized some of his more lethal moves. Jason and Helen watched as the Sith flipped and spun, chopping the Flood around him into numerous pieces. His ability to combine his force powers and light sabre combat in a way that made his movements flow like water.

When Trepid began to loose space to the Flood he jumped up to Jason and Helen on the catwalk. But when his foot landed on the metal grate, what seemed like fifty infected Yam'ne took flight, firing plasma pistols and needlers at the humans standing high above the Flood.

"Fire, where are those sentinels!" Jason roared, swinging his blade at the infected bugs.

"They have all been disabled by the Flood Reclaimer" monitor said calmly, "but I would advise we move down the corridor toward the Delta power core immediately. My sensors have detected the Flood are trying to disable access to the main terminal and prevent us from detonating the core. If my calculations are correct then they will achieve success with twenty standard minutes."

"What happens if they disable it?" Trepid said with a grunt.

"Then we will need to teleport to the vicinity of another power core with an intact terminal. If all seven have been disabled as well then we will need to detonate the core manually."

They all knew what would happen if that was necessary.

Trepid tried using his lighting one last time, and smiled when he found it had some affect against the flying combat forms. The bodies convulsed as the lightening ripped through their bodies, killing the parasite inside and sending them plummeting to the ground bellow.

Eventually, the last of the infected Yam'ne fell back into the ocean of Flood. The rest of the Flood forms watched them from the ground, and Jason knew the Gravemind was thinking of a way to get to them.

"How far is the power core?" Jason asked Fire.

The monitor turned its eye, "it is approximately 18 kilometres down the corridor."

Jason didn't even have a chance to ask how they were going to get there in twenty minutes when an explosion knocked them off their feet. The catwalk swayed on its support cables as Jason climbed to his feet, looking over the guard rail to find the cause of the explosion.

It seemed the Covenant that they had seen in the library had also brought in some heavier equipment. Bellow them, a wraith tank flanked by four Ghosts, lobbed plasma ball after plasma ball at their catwalk. Causing the entire thing to shake and move from each impact. Most never came close and merely smashed into the metal ceiling, but the odd shot would get close enough that he feared it would collapse.

It seemed the Flood was having trouble aiming the wraith's mortar and resorted to the use of the Ghosts. The Ghosts lifted their twin plasma guns and had much better results against the three humans.

The nonstop streams of plasma cut cleanly through the thin metal they stood on. The Gravemind was one step ahead of them. It knew they were after the core, and it had prepared for their arrival with the Covenant vehicles and the attempt at deactivating the power terminal.

A crazy idea went through Jason's head and he looked down at the Ghosts. He had learned in the Sangheili's interrogation that these light attack vehicles could move pretty fast, not to mention their control layout was very simple.

Looking back at his comrades he knew there wouldn't be any time for explanations. He moved closer to them so they could hear over the plasma fire and the creaking of the catwalk.

"Follow my lead! Ignore the Flood if you can!"

He hopped up onto the railing and let the force flow through him. He had never been exceptionally gifted in the force, but at this moment Jason felt more powerful than even master Cath and finally realized his full power.

The plasma flew at him but he subconsciously used the force to nudge the shots out of the way. He lifted his hands and mustered up all the power he had. With a grunt Jason threw his hands down, sending an incredibly powerful force push down on the Flood.

With their weakened bodies, the flood practically fell apart as the force push hit them. Flood within twenty meters of the epicentre were all but destroyed, pulverized by the power of the force. The Flood aboard the Covenant vehicles were also blown away, leaving the purple machines empty.

Jason reached down and pulled Helen up to him, clutching her tight against his chest. With a small gulp Jason threw him and Helen over the railing. Using the force, Jason slowed their descent so they landed softer than physics would have allowed. Trepid followed closely behind them.

Already the Gravemind was reorganizing its combat forms, sending them surging toward the humans once more. Jason ignited his light sabre and sent it flying into the flood. He cut down a fair dozen or so before he recalled the weapon with the force.

He then jumped into the seat of one of the nearest Ghosts and glanced at the controls. Since the front of the vehicle came above his face, there was a small purple view screen showing what was in front of him. Other than that, there wasn't much in the way of utilities.

Jason touched a bright purple circle below him and the Ghost lifted off the ground, antigravity generators humming away beneath him.

In the time it took for Jason to find the two hand grips, the Flood were practically on top of them. Helen and Trepid were still facing the Flood with their small weapons, but not doing much damage.

Jason twisted the throttle in the handle grip and nearly fell off from the sudden burst of speed. The Ghost ploughed through the Flood, sending brown bits and body parts flying in every direction.

He circled around Helen and Trepid, giving them some space and a chance to find a Ghost of their own. Within a minute, all three of them had their own Ghosts and were smashing through Flood all around them.

"Which way Fire?" Helen called out to the monitor.

The small machine Flew down from the ceiling and sped down the hall, not even taking notice of the three of them on the ground. Jason exchanged a glanced with Helen before shooting down the hallway after Fire.

The hallway was jam-packed with Flood as far as they could see, forcing the three of them to smash their way to the core. If not for the Ghost's high positioned armour, the three of them would have been covered with the Flood's green/brown blood substitute.

"Fire, how will we get out of here!" Yelled Helen as she drove.

Fire spun around, still flying at the same pace as before only backwards. "There is a small portal located in the core room that leads to the surface. Without the teleportation grid it will be our only means of escape."

Helen dove into her pocket and pulled out her data pad, "upload the coordinates of the portal exit onto my data pad so our ships will know where to find us!"

She threw the small metal pad and Fire nimbly caught it in his tractor beam, brining it close to its green eye. Several seconds later the monitor zoomed down and placed the data pad back in Helen's hand. She then called Keth and organized a pickup twenty minutes from now.

Eventually they blew through the last of the Flood and into a small stretch of empty hallway. Around them the hallway changed from a silvery metal surface to a brown flood covered surface that reminded Jason of being inside a digestion tract.

Jason felt his draw drop when the hallway ended and they entered the power core room. The core itself was huge, taking up half the room as it stretched from ground to ceiling. Over to the right was an equally large viewing panel looking out over a large white space which Jason assumed to be the true core of the planet. But these sights weren't the cause to Jason's amazement. No, standing in front of the large blue core was a creature that Jason could only assume was the Gravemind itself.

The Flood's brain was a mass of infected carcasses attached to the power core itself. Stretching from its body, thick long tentacles curled and moved around the room. One of the tentacles was thicker than the others and stood high above the rest like a head. The head opened up as they got closer, revealing a mouth similar to a Sangheili's with six mandible like appendages spaced around the tentacle's end.

"I offered you peace and yet you resist" the Gravemind said through the head tentacle, "Have you not learned that resisting me will only lead to your destruction?"

"Fire, where is the power terminal?" Jason asked, ignoring the massive creature before them.

"Behind this Gravemind appendage" the monitor said as the three of them slowed their vehicles, "The Flood must have set up these appendages at each of the cores to protect and deactivate the power terminals."

Helen whipped her head around, "This is only part of the Gravemind?"

"Unfortunately yes" said Fire. The monitor stared out of the large observation window, causing the others to follow its gaze.

Several tentacles about the size of the power core waved into view, almost filling the entire window. The Gravemind's true head, pretty well exactly the same as the one in front of them, lifted up from a hole at the bottom of the planet's core. The two head tentacles may have been the same in shape, but the one in the planet core obviously dwarfed the one they now faced.

"Oh" said the monitor in a surprised tone, "it seems my calculations of the Flood's growth and size may have been slightly off."

Jason couldn't believe this, "how?" he asked.

"The Flood have the capability to evolve however they see fit with the Gravemind controlling it all. This also includes cell reproduction on an incredible scale, thus creating more and even larger Flood forms."

"For all this time, I have been locked away. Hidden from the face of the universe" said the Gravemind in its deep voice, "it was a sentence I never deserved. And if you will not join us, then you will perish like those who came before!"

A tentacle flew across the room from the mass attached to the power core, aiming for Jason's Ghost. He Pulled on the hand grips and veered away as the tentacle threatened to crush him.

Other tentacles reached out from the Gravemind appendage and ventilation shafts around them, trying to grab or crush them.

Then, like someone trying to scoop up a bug, two tentacles came down at Helen from either side. Helen had nowhere to run and Jason saw this.

Calling on the force Jason force, leaping from his Ghost and landing on the tentacle closest. On wobbly feet Jason cut the tentacle in two and jumped to the opposite one, doing the same.

Helen pushed her ghost as fast as it could go, escaping the Gravemind's clutches. Jason looked back to see another tentacle crushing his abandoned Ghost, causing it to explode in a burst of plasma and causing the tentacle to recoil.

He decided to take the direct approach. Jason jumped into the air toward the Gravemind appendage, dodging and slashing at the creature's tentacles as he went. As he neared, the appendage released a wave of infection forms. But at the speed he was moving the Flood couldn't keep up.

Combat forms eventually joined in, successfully slowing Jason down, at least until Trepid showed up with his Ghost. He ran right through them, giving Jason a straight path toward the appendage.

Helen drove by and tossed him something. Jason snatched it out of the air and looked at it. One of Helen's last thermal detonators. With a grim smile on his face Jason primed the grenade. He side slashed another tentacle and sent the detonator flying a mile a minute.

The grenade lodged itself in the appendage, sinking into its soft organic material. The light on the grenade flashed red and then, there was a sun within the planet of Taxyra. Green and brown gunk exploded outward, but Jason shielded himself with the force. The appendage went down hard, it's long head roaring with anger.

Jason dodged the falling tentacles and infection forms, hoping the Gravemind hadn't succeeded in shutting down the terminal. He jumped over the fallen head and spotted a small yellow terminal jutting out of the crater he made in the Gravemind.

He skidded to a halt in front of the terminal, his knee banging against the metal underneath. His eyes welled up from the pain but he ignored them. He sheathed his light sabre, wiped away the slime covering the console and took in the controls.

He didn't even sense the combat form behind him when it gripped him around the waist with a thin, sharp tentacle. Jason struggled, trying to get his sabre from his belt. Suddenly, the tentacle was gone. He swung around to find Trepid's back a foot behind him, his crimson light sabre hacking away at Flood that came toward them. Trepid turned slightly so he and Jason could see each other. The Sith lord gave him a curt nod before turning back to face the oncoming Flood.

Jason looked at the controls and found a circle in the center. Taking a leap of faith he twisted the circle clockwise. The yellow terminal slowly increased to a bright red, causing a small alarm to sound from the terminal.

"You have done it!" Fire exclaimed happily from above, "come, I will activate the portal and you may leave."

Helen flew by, allowing Jason and Trepid a chance to hop on, both of them balancing on the vehicle's wings. The Ghost sank lower to the ground, its underside sparking against the metal floor. Helen followed the monitor to the far side of the room where a small blue ball flashed into existence against the wall. Trepid and Jason swung their light sabres, taking out any combat forms Helen had missed.

Helen slowed as they came up to it, unsure if the portal was meant for vehicles. She pulled the Ghost to a crawl and jumped out, Trepid and Jason close on her heels.

Helen and Trepid went through the portal without hesitation, disappearing in bright white flashes, not dissimilar to Slipspace ruptures. But Jason lagged behind, waiting for the monitor.

"Fire, aren't you coming!"

The monitor's eye flashed, creating a semitransparent barrier between them and the Flood. He floated down beside Jason, the glow from its green eye mixing with Jason's blue light sabre, creating an odd rainbow affect.

"I cannot come with you Reclaimer" said Fire, "there are several other tasks I must see to, to make sure the installation's detonation will be sufficient enough to destroy the Flood. Containment is my highest priority after all."

Jason didn't know what to say. The machine was unique. A hundred thousand years old and Fire still worked perfectly, except for a few odd personality quirks. He knew the scientist back on Couriscant would go nuts if they had any of this technology, but it seemed that if the Flood weren't to survive, then neither would the Forerunners' technology.

"Thanks Fire" said Jason with a small smile, "Take care."

"Thank you Reclaimer" Fire said happily, "You must hurry; the installation will detonate within the next five standard minutes."

With one last sparing look at the floating eye Jason stepped back into the portal. He was enveloped in darkness and felt a soft pressure squeeze him in on all sides, keeping him from taking a breath.

When Jason couldn't take it any longer and tried gasping for air, the pressure disappeared and Jason found himself overlooking the large equatorial trench, a structure he believed to be the library located on the far side.

Someone called his name from behind and he turned to see Helen running up a bare hillside with Trepid at her side. Above them, the Saurora swung into view preparing to make a landing.

Jason sprinted up the hill behind them, knowing escape was so close. He began to move even faster when flood forms came barrelling out of the forest at the base of the hill. Before he knew it, Jason was up the ship's boarding ramp and inside the _Saurora's_ lavish interior. He keyed closed the ramp and ran to the cockpit.

"Go!" Jason said as he jumped in the navigation seat.

Cris obeyed without question, pushing the ship's throttle as far as it would go. The Saurora blasted off the ground, its main engine frying several Flood forms standing behind the ship.

Jason wondered how much time they had left. Not much it seemed. The planet below them already showed signs of the imminent explosion. Parts of the surface began to explode, sending bits of metal and Flood fragments high into the air.

It seemed the Gravemind still had it in for them, even now as the planet exploded around them. Large tentacles reached up from the planet surface, trying to bat them from the sky.

Cris dodged the metal and tentacles with incredible skill, flipping the ship this way and that with ease. Then, they were free of Taxyra. The atmosphere was behind them, along with the Flood and dying Destroyer installation.

Ahead of them, their main fleet stood waiting for them. He had no idea how big of an explosion the Installation would create, but he knew it would be enough to envelop the fleet.

"Helen we need to move the fleet away now!" he yelled over the rumble of the ship's afterburners.

Without acknowledgement, she dialled up Skye and stared yelling at the General to move the fleet. She then did the same with the Sith admiral.

By the time they reached the fleet, it had already begun to move. But when Jason used the exterior cameras to survey Taxyra, he knew they might be too late. The entire planet was sucking itself inward, causing the surface to glow red hot.

"Tell them to make jumps to hyperspace" Jason said to Helen, "the fleet won't make it out of here alive unless they do."

"Where should they go?"

Jason groaned with frustration, "random coordinates, it doesn't matter. We need to get them out of here now!"

Helen recalled the fleet and told them what to do. Seconds later, the ships began to make jumps to the safety of hyperspace. The _Saurora_ stayed to make sure each ship go out alive.

When the Righteous Justice finally made a jump, Taxyra exploded. Bits of planet flew at them at nearly light speed, making them resemble shooting stars.

Jason randomized several coordinates and Cris made the immediate jump. The exploding world flashed away to be replaced by colourful blue hyperspace.

Jason slumped in his chair, too tired for words. They had done it. They had stopped the Covenant and the Flood, but also lost a friend along the way. Glorious Fire was gone for good, destroyed by the home he had lived in for a hundred thousand years. Deep down, he knew he would miss the little droid.

"You guys want to tell me what the heck just happened?" asked Cris.

Jason let loose a half cry, half laugh, "later Cris. I'm just glad it's over."

Helen got out of her chair and walked over to his. She seated herself on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Jason pulled her in and kissed her. Kissed her like he had never done before.

She pulled away, a serious look on her face. "This isn't over yet" he said, "the Covenant won't stop until we're all extinct. We're at war now."

"Well, with allies like us" said Trepid with a dark smirk, "you could say the war is already won."

Jason smiled at the Sith. The two of them may have been different in allot of ways, and their people had waged war almost half a dozen times before. But this was different. They had finally united against a terrible enemy they both shared. And while they would fight together, peace would never be an option. The light and dark sides were never meant to coexist. They were enemies, but for now, they were friends.


	21. Epilogue

Epilogue

**Eleven years later **

Jason stood on the bridge of the capital ship Glorious Fire. He always liked the name. It seemed right to him to remember the little machine that had sacrificed everything for their sake.

Helen had named it, about three years ago just after their wedding. It was one of the last ships still in service. The others were either decommissioned or destroyed in the last few engagements about a month ago.

It was odd. The Covenant just stopped sending forces. They had some wins and so did the Republic, but they never severely crippled the Covenant into hiding. Something else caused the Covenant's relative disappearance. It was possible that it was the other humans, the ones fighting in the unknown regions.

These other humans were apart of a government that called themselves the UNSC. The Republic found worlds in the unknown regions that had obviously been ambushed by the Covenant, but also found the remnants of primitive ships that used the same form of travel as the Covenant. These destroyed ships told them little about the humans, but enough to distinguish them as allies. They had never come into contact with any of them, giving them the impression of ghosts.

With the disappearance of the Covenant, Jason assumed it was caused by the UNSC. But he knew that it could have been the cause of something else entirely. Something he believed destroyed eleven years ago. The Flood. It still survived within other Forerunner installations across the galaxy, sleeping and waiting for the time to return to the galaxy.

They had never found any other installations other than the Destroyer one. It scared him to think of what would happen should the Sith ever got control of one of them. But if they couldn't find more installations in eleven years, he doubted the Sith could. Especially with the Republic searching for them.

A week ago, the Sith fled. Leaving behind their warships for exile. They would be back. How long that would be could only be guessed at. There was about two thousand of them after all, including Darth Trepid.

Currently, they were heading to the Alderan system. Helen and Jason had been there on several occasions, and they both decided it would be a wonderful place to settle down. Jason had already given the council his lightsaber and had officially left the order, but the council felt they owed him and his wife and gave them free transport to Alderan.

"It's going to be weird, wont it?"

Jason turned to see Helen and Keelu striding toward him. "No doubt" he said to his old master, "It'll be different, not being in the order."

"You're still ok about this?" Helen asked.

Jason smiled and reached for her hand, "Definitely. Being with you is too important."

"If that is your decision" said Keelu, "then I'm happy for you Jason"

"Commander Kiel" called out the navigation officer "we will be dropping out of hyperspace in several minutes"

Jason was about to respond when his vision blurred. At first he though there was something wrong with him, but then he felt a familiar presence. He couldn't be sure, but if felt like his sister was nearby. He stretched out with the force and instead of finding his sister, he saw something. He saw himself, maybe a little older, looking out on a field of grain, an enormous mountain stretching up in the background.

He didn't know what he was looking at until he spotted some movement in the grass. His older self saw the movement in an instant, his eyes tracking it as it moved forward. Jason had no clue what was coming and he could see his older self brushing his hand against his side, feeling for a lightsaber that was no longer there.

His older self let out a sigh of relief when two children, twin boys by the look of them, came running out of the field, their faces flushed from a game of tag. He bent down and scooped the two of them up in his arms, the three of them laughing. One of the children pointed over his shoulder and they turned to see a smiling Helen with a baby girl cradled in her arms.

The vision ended as suddenly as it began, and he was back on the bridge staring into the worried faces of Keelu and Helen.

"You saw a vision" Keelu stated, "What did you see?"

Jason smiled "Something wonderful."

* * *

Lord Trepid powered up his light cruiser and launched out of the Star Destroyer's hangar bay. Using the rear view monitor he could see the rest of the ship's occupants were also doing the same.

The war against the Covenant had officially not to long ago. The Republic was victorious, but at the expense of several dozen worlds and almost twelve billion lives.

Trepid knew the Republic would come for them at the war's end and remained one step ahead of them. The Sith armada had taken a pretty rough beating during the war, dwindling its forces to just two ships. They abandoned the one smaller ship, the _Crimson Star_, for the larger one called _Death's Hand _which they also abandoning at this point.

To avoid attention, the dark council agreed for all remaining Sith to flee and hide and rebuild their numbers. The Republic had come out of the war crippled and weak, but they still had the ability to end the Sith if they had the chance.

Around him, thousands of other small cruisers of large fighters left the star destroyer. There was about a thousand of them, carrying less than two thousand Sith. It would be a long time before the Sith rose to confront the Republic again, but when it would, the Sith would have a weapon the Republic would never be able to match.

As he programmed the nav computer for a short jump to the banking planet of Mygeeto, Trepid pulled out his data pad and slid a small chip into the empty data slot. The schematics of the long dead Destroyer Installation flashed to life. It had been ages since the monitor gave him the schematics, and he hoped technicians could eventually replicate it.

He needed to give it a new name though. The Destroyer was a name given by the Forerunners, not the Sith. He thought briefly about the last two surviving Star Destroyers, now abandoned by their masters. The _Crimson Star_ and _Death's Hand_.

It came to him gradually, and he made a suitable name.

The Death Star.

He typed the name into the data pad, making it the new title. He also remembered the monitor, and how its eye bore an old forerunner symbol. He quickly sketched a small circle with six lines extending to meet a hexagon. The original symbol had lines meeting another circle, but he decided to change it from a Forerunner design to a Sith one. The new sign of the future Sith.

With a satisfied grin Trepid returned the data pad to his belt and waited for the ship to drop out of hyperspace.

He didn't need to wait long. Hyperspace soon disappeared in exchange with the black, starry vacuum of real space. Hanging in front of him like a blue, grey jewel was the world of Maygeeto.

Trepid piloted his ship down onto one of the more exclusive landing pads. The Sith wrapped his cloak around him and made his way out into the cold air of the planet.

He entered the main building and navigated it's corridors, making his way to the oldest bank on the planet. When he stepped through the glass doors, a musty smell filled his nose, telling him he was probably in the right place.

Trepid approached the reception desk slowly, his hood almost completely covering his red eyes. A female Rodian perked up behind the desk as he neared

"Hello sir" said the Rodian, "how may I help you?"

"I require access to my vault" Trepid said flatly.

"Alright, and what is your name sir?"

"Sienar, Carnell Sienar." Trepid hadn't used his real name since before he became a Sith.

The Rodian checked the computer's records before getting up and exiting the desk.

"Please follow me" she said, beckoning to a long hallway. Trepid did so and together, the two of them traversed down the length of corridor to the near end.

The Rodian stopped by a large door with a hand scanner. Trepid placed a grey hand on the scanner and waited for it to open the vault. The scanner chimed and a green light flashed on.

Trepid stood back and watched as his family's vault opened before his eyes. When the door was wide enough he stepped inside and found an empty pedestal at the vault's center. He reached into his cloak and retrieved the data pad with the Death Star schematics.

He gingerly placed the data pad on the pedestal and left the vault, not even taking notice to the family treasures around him. Trepid smiled as he walked back to his ship. By committing this final act, he had sealed the galaxy's future.

Not many people knew, but Trepid had a brother, one who never knew of Trepid's turn to the dark side. The man Trepid once knew was married, and even had children. He never understood the vision he had seen until he discovered this information.

The force had once shown him his descendent, Raith Sienar, would deliver the Death Star schematics to the future Sith. His relative was clearly on his brother's side and had no true ties to the Sith. Either way the man would find the schematics in the vault and hand the Sith a weapon of unmatched power.

He had fulfilled his destiny, now he had to do his part to keep the Sith alive. And to do that, he needed to find an apprentice.


	22. Letter from the Author

**Letter from the Author**

Hey there FanFiction, its tkman0. I hope you enjoyed the book, it took me a while to make. Currently I'm writing my own story, one which I hope to get published in the future. As a gift to you for taking the time to read Star Wars: The Covenant, I'm giving you a taste of my upcoming novel in the form of a short story I wrote for my writing class. Hope you enjoy "The Crossing."


	23. The Crossing

**The Crossing**

**Tkman0**

Annunaki Lieutenant Voss Delv leapt forward, plunging his twin moon blades into the rotting chest of the Ven foot soldier. The creature toppled backwards, it's soft, rotting flesh and disfigured body working against it as it tried to regain balance. Before it could, Voss moved faster than the eye could follow, ripping his blades free with little effort and stepping backwards to admire his handiwork.

The Ven toppled to the ground, it's bloated torso nearly cut in half. Brown and black blood seeped from the massive wound in its chest, but despite the severity of the damage, the Ven still managed to take sharp, painful breaths. Proving that as fragile as they seemed, the Ven were very difficult to kill. The injured Ven roared out, it's solid black eyes and unnaturally long sharp teeth giving it the air of a rabid animal, hungry for blood.

It was hard to believe this creature was once like him. An Annunaki.

Like Voss, it still had the same hard exoskeleton, the same rounded, bald head, the same short torso and the same long, skinny arms and legs. But the Ven conversion process had clearly degenerated many of these Annunaki characteristics. Instead, this Ven had sharper claws and long pointed teeth which were common among the Ven. It's body was shaded grey/brown and bloated black growths dotted its body, some of which oozed a foul smelling orange puss that smoked as it touched the earth. It was disgusting, and frightening, but Voss accepted the fact that this would probably be his fate at some point in the near future.

"Voss!" cried Salem, one of the two Humans on his strike team.

Voss whirled around, adrenaline pumping through his tall insectoid body. His five team members were all locked in combat with over two dozen Ven, each foe seemingly different and more dangerous than the last. One Ven might have had long tentacles where it's arms once were, one might have been able to fire sharp barbs from its hand like a firearm, and one might have been headless with makeshift eyes in its chest. Still, others looked like they were a combination of different animals, as if they were fused together into a seemingly impossible form. The Ven were masters of adaptation and self evolution, most likely thanks to the little understood conversion process which transformed them from whatever creature they were originally, to these rotting abominations.

Catching sight of the brown skinned Salem, Voss realized what the problem was. Salem was surrounded on all sides, his Chi abilities having little to no affect on the Ven surrounding him. This battle had been going on for too long and the Ven were starting to adapt to the Humans and their abilities, which meant Voss and his team had lost their advantage.

They closed in on Salem from all sides, and it took every ounce of the man's power to keep them at bay. He'd blast them with fire and electricity, he'd throw chunks of rock, earth and even knock trees their way, but the Ven just kept coming, their soft bodies oddly resilient even against this heavy barrage of attacks.

Voss jumped back into the fray, swinging his moon blades through Ven after Ven. Their putrid bodily fluids quickly covered the ground, filling the small suburban battlefield with a sickening smell which nearly made him gag.

He hacked his way to Salem, never slowing down, always moving forward. On his way, Voss swept by his brother, Jacen, and dismembered a lone Ven trying to sneak up on him. He didn't even wait to see if the thing was dead, he just kept moving, taking those last few steps until he was behind the Ven who were causing Salem so much distress.

He swung his blades and cut one Ven in half, while following through and opening a gash in the head of another. Dark bodily fluids flew into his face, temporarily blinding him. Thankfully his species had a weak ability to sense electromagnetic fields, and while he couldn't see, he could still feel where the Ven were around him. He hacked and slashed with closed eyes, his weapons a blur of speed and precision, never allowing the Ven to get close enough to put him in any danger.

When he found a reprieve in the waves of oncoming Ven, he wiped his small blue eyes clean and readied himself for more of the creatures, but there was none. He glanced around the battlefield, finding it littered with the bodies and slime that were the once living Ven. It seemed they had won.

Looking around, Voss took note of how far off course they were. Only half an hour ago, their convoy had been ambushed by the Ven. In the initial assault almost everyone was killed, the Ven gutting their fellow Annunaki soldiers mercilessly. Only Voss, his team, and a few other soldiers were able to escape. But the Ven were relentless and pursued them into this small residential area. The Ven eventually caught up and Voss and his team were forced to fight back.

This part of the city was close to the Western Wall, with towering crystalline apartment complexes standing empty on either side of the wide, grey paved road. Like all buildings in the city of Mesomapit, the apartment complexes were built around the ancient Galvan crystals, which grew out of the ground over the course of thousands of years. The outsides of the crystal buildings were largely covered in metal, to allow for more privacy within these transparent, blue apartments. But these buildings were damaged, no thanks to the Ven. The surface of the crystals shone through quite clearly, revealing the destruction and carnage within the buildings themselves. It was a drastic change compared to what this place was like several decades ago.

Air which had once been brisk and clean was now saturated with the bitter smell of rot. A sky which had been a beautiful colour of purple was now brown from the toxic chemicals the Ven spat into the air. Small animals which had once lived in the various trees now lay dead on the pavement, their natural food sources poisoned from the Ven's growing grasp.

It was the end of the world, their world anyway, but there was still hope.

"You okay?" Voss asked Salem with a pant, his eyes still scanning the battlefield for any other threats.

Salem smiled mischievously, "No thanks to you boss."

With a huff, Voss lowered his arms, realizing how tired they were. He stood up to his full height of seven feet and took in his team with wary eyes. They were strong, battle hardened, and the best the Annunaki military had to offer. They all wore the same black, form fitting combat armour, although the Humans needed armour specially designed for their smaller bodies.

Only four out of his six man team were Annunaki; Himself, with a deep blue exoskeleton and rare barbs lining his arms. Baz, a tech expert with a light grey exoskeleton. Jacen, a firearms specialist who had a skeleton of dark red and black stripes. And finally there was Kil, a demolition specialist with light a light yellow skeleton. Like all Annunaki, they all had large, spherical, hairless heads with small eyes and mouths similar to the Humans. Their ears were simple holes in the sides of their heads and their noses mere slits separating their eyes from their mouths.

Then there were the two Humans. Salem was at least six feet tall, with muscular, tanned brown skin and short black hair. He was handsome according to most Humans, and tended to use that to his advantage with the many women back at HQ. There was also Karen, a pretty female just a bit shorter than Salem. She had Ivory, white skin and long blonde hair which fell loosely over her shoulders. Salem had been trying to charm her for weeks, but Karen was unlike most women and rejected Salem's attempts. By Annunaki standards the Humans were small and ill equipped to fight anyone, they had no exoskeletons and were easily injured, had poor eyesight and their range of movement was horrible. But it was their abilities which set them apart from the Annunaki and even the Ven. It was also the reason they were here to begin with.

"Everyone alright?" Voss called out.

He heard several grunts in response, and he glanced around at his team. They were tired. Exhausted from days of nearly non stop fighting. Just last week the Ven finally penetrated the last Annunaki stronghold, the city of Mesomapit. Since then it took everything the Annunki had to hold back the Ven, but they knew it was pointless. The Annunaki had no where left to go, their population was already too low to be sustainable, so it was only inevitable they would fail.

"Voss, we have more Ven approaching from the east." Karen said, looking to her left, her hightened senses picking up on the Vens' Chi energy.

"Then we better get moving" Voss said simply.

"Brother, we're already off course," said Jacen, "and there's no way we'll be able to make it to the power core this way. We need a better plan."

"How about we head to the Western Wall,?" Salem offered, "sneak out of the city and circle around to where the Ven are bringing in their forces? If we're careful they won't even notice us going in with them."

Bliz shook his head, "no, too dangerous. Besides, that would take an extra day to accomplish. The council can't afford that kind of time. We need that power core up and online today."

"You got a better idea you stupid bug?" Salem spat, "because I'm sure we'd love to hear it."

"We dont have time for this," Voss growled, cutting Bliz off before he could reply. Bliz and Salem were never very close to begin with, but ever since Salem's sister died when the Ven first invaded the city, he started taking all his frustration out on Bliz. Their nearly constant banter was getting on Voss' nerves, and if they didn't settle down he was afraid he'd have to put a stop to it himself.

"Sir, they're getting closer," Karen said softly, "There's allot more this time too."

"Voss," Jacen said, "We really need a plan."

Voss thought hard, his exoskeleton feeling tight and rigid from the stress. There was no where to go that the Ven wouldn't find them. The sky was filled with their seeker birds, and another Ven patrol was never too far off. If they chose to fight their way to the Power Core, the Ven would have a better oportunity to adapt to his team's weapons and abilities. In the end they would be swarmed, killed, and taken for conversion.

But if they went underground, maybe the Ven wouldn't be able to get to them! They could travel under the city and come up near the power core undetected!

"Salem, Karen. Can you two make a tunnel?"

The two Humans have Voss a curious look. "Sure," said Karen, "But we would need a place to put all the dirt."

"Dont worry about the dirt sweetheart" said Salem, kneeling down and placing his hand on the road, "there's an old sewer system under the road. More than big enough for us to fit. It runs for hundreds of kilometers, and maybe even under the power core's central hub."

"You're sure?" Kil asked, his three fingered hands twitching in anticipation. With a tunnel already there, it was obvious Kil wanted to do the honors of getting them down there. The very idea that he was going to get the chance to do some old fashion demolition was making him giddy, and it tended to scare Voss in more ways than one.

Salem winked charmingly, "Let's just say the chances that this thing runs near the Power Core's hub and Karen kissing me before the day is done are pretty close."

Karen laughed, "So I take it the chances aren't good?"

"Only one way to find out sweet cheeks." Salem raised his hands and threw them down violently, sending volumous amounts of chi energy pouring into the ground. the earth began to shake and Voss nearly toppled over, needing to grasp the rough bark of a nearby tree for balance. The pavement beneath Salem popped like a gunshot and started to give way, but the human didn't bother moving away. He just stood there as the ground broke, gravity pulling him and the road down into the subterranean sewer system.

"Damn it," Kil complained, "why do you Humans get all the fun?"

Voss walked to the edge of Salem's crater and looked down, finding an unharmed human leaning on a large slab of rock, a smug smile on his face. "Sorry Kil old buddy. But we're in a hurry." he said.

"Kill you'll have plenty of opportunities later. Alright, everyone in." said Voss, leading the way and leaping down beside Salem. He stepped aside to let the others follow and accidentally walked into a disgusting brown puddle, the smell of three decade old feces almost as foul as a dead Ven.

"Karen, collapse the tunnel," Voss said once they were all inside, "we don't want them following us."

The human female nodded and raised her hand, using her chi to bring down more of the road above, piling it so it blocked the makeshift entrance. Darkness enveloped them and Salem held his hand out, creating a small ball of plasma, lighting the tunnel with a soft blue glow.

"How far is the core?" Kil asked.

"Couple of killmeters," Karen replied, "As far as I can tell, these sewers are fairly straight forward. So getting there won't be hard, as long as we don't run into anything along the way."

Voss was always impressed by the Humans. Their sensitivity to energy was a true marvel of Annunaki ingenuity. If not for them, the Annunaki would have lost the war three decades ago when the Ven first crossed over.

"So Karen," said Salem, "Where are you gong when we get back to earth?"

"We're still on earth genius." she said with a snort.

"I meant our earth." he said with a smirk, "The one in the fourth plane. The one the Ven haven't found yet."

"Shut up." Bliz mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that Bliz?" Said Salem, egging him on.

"I said SHUT UP!" Bliz roared, "I'm tired of you Humans talking about how amazing the god damn fourth plane is! You think you're better than us because of your stupid little powers? You think we don't want to come with you? We don't want to die, but we're doing this for you! We're getting you back home! And remember, if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't be as "Amazing" as you think you are."

Salem turned on Bliz, the plasma in his hand glowing brighter from rage, "If it wasn't for you BUGS, we wouldn't be here to begin with. You brought ten thousand of us from the fourth plane to the fifth, and today there's only two thousand left! You pretty much murdered my family because you weren't man enough to fight your own war!"

"ENOUGH!" Voss barked, "You two do know what we're doing don't you? We activate this core, and HQ can open another portal to the fourth plane. If you two cant get that through your thick heads, I'll personally see to it that Ven tear you limb from limb!"

Voss closed his mouth and an eerie silence stretched over his team. He had overreacted, Voss knew that. But this was important. They needed that power core back online today, otherwise the Humans would never go home, and the war would be lost.

This entire war came down to Voss and his team, and as focused as he was on the mission, he couldnt help but think about the last thirty years and what had transpired over that time. The arrival of the Ven. A war their species wasn't prepared for. The discovery of the Humans. Then this.

Before the war, the Annunaki were a more gentle people. They tried not to engage in wars or battles, although at some points in their lengthy history it seemed unavoidable. Most of the technology their species developed was for peaceful purposes, and only small remnants of ancient wars such as the walled city of Mesomapit remained. Life was good for their species.

Then, thirty years ago, the Ven appeared. They seemed to come out of nowhere, their massive numbers and advanced weaponry obliterating anyone who crossed their paths. The Vens' resilient bodies, combined with highly advance weaponry, decimated the Annunaki people. Having lacked the knowledge, experience, or practice of warfare, the Annunaki had to relearn everything to save themselves from extinction. They were forced to alter their current technology into weapons, and learn how to fight against an unstoppable force which had wiped out sixty percent of their global population in the first two years.

As much as they tried, the Annunaki couldnt figure out what the Ven wanted. Studies of the species showed they were a type of highly inteligent virus. They infected other living beings and took full control over their bodies, manipulating the genetic makeup and transforming them into creatures designed for war. Thankfully, in order for the Ven virus to control an organism, the organism needed a special gene. Since the Annunaki lacked this gene, it made it harder for the Ven to infect them. This forced the Ven to make captured Annunaki undergo some kind of conversion process, where they insert the extra gene into the bodies of the Annunaki. How they did this was unknown, but they assumed it took some pretty advanced technology to accomplish.

As the war progressed, the Annunaki long believed the Ven purely wanted to absorb living creatures into its ranks, but that changed completely with a breakthrough in quantum physics nearly ten years into the war.

Searching for some kind of new technology capable of wiping out the Ven, several scientists accidentally stumbled upon a massive discovery. The discovery of multiple Planes of existence. They found that the universe was seperated into layers, or Planes as they tended to call them. They weren't layers in the literal sense, seperated by each other in phyisical space. They were just separate planes of existence within the same physical universe, each vibrating at a specific energy frequency. The math was extrememly complex, way beyond what Voss understood. But the implications that there were other planes of existence made all the difference to his people.

Unfortunately, the discovery of these new planes seemed to come too late.

Scientific studies brought about the discovery that the Ven vibrated at a different energy frequency than the Annunaki. Meaning that not only were the Ven from another Plane of existence, but they have probably crossed over to other Planes. Planes where the Annunaki believed they might be able to escape to if they could build a proper portal.

Despite this chilling discovery about the Ven, there was one intruiging fact they found most interesting. The fact that mathematical calculations and research showed there were only seven planes of existence. The Annunaki plane being the fifth of the seven, and they believed the Ven were from the second. They found that as a person went up the planes, the energy vibrations of each plane seemed to get more intense, resulting in an inteligent organism from that plane being more "pure" or less prone to warfare and violence. As you go down the planes, the organisms in each plane become more and more corrupt. They assumed that at the first and seventh Planes, there was something keeping balance between the other five planes, a balance between purity and corruption. While this was a well accepted theory at the time, it still did little to change the circumstances of the Annunaki.

Finally, fifteen years into the war, the Annunaki discovered what they believed to be a portal. A portal from which the Ven were entering the fifth plane of existence. It was located in the ancient city of Tangen, the birth place of the first great Annunaki civilization. With this intel in hand, the high council initiated the first reall assault against the Ven, sending over fifty thousand Annunaki soldiers to fight in the battle of Tangen. The batle was fierce and lasted more than a week. Unfortunately, the battle ended in a retreat. But luckily, the Annunaki found what they were looking for; information on the portal the Ven were using to cross over.

With this information, the Annunaki hoped to build their own portal, find a Plane unaffected by the Ven, and escape into it before the Ven could totally wipe them out. It took a whole year to construct a gate way, but once they did, they opened portals to the sixth and third planes. The fear that this would be the end for their race quickly turned to panic as they discovered both planes also corrupted by the Ven infestation. They tried opening portals to the seventh and first, but the gateway just wouldnt work on these frequencies.

In the end, they had one option left; the fourth plane. Although, opening a portal to the fourth found to be much harder than anticipated. This plane vibrated at an odd frequency, which almost seemed to change at random. Sometimes it would vibrate at a lower frequency then at a higher one, like a tug of war between purity and corruption. Finally, they were able to hone in on a baseline frequency and opened a portal to the fourth plane.

Unlike the sixth and third planes, this plane was empty of the Ven. Upon entering this plane, they discovered the various plant species found here had remarkable medical properties. If they could find something in this plane capable of killing or even as simple as negating the effects of the Ven virus, the win would be won in no time!

This new plane had much to offer, and many believed they this plane was the one key to the survival of the Annunaki species. But the discovery of the Humans quickly changed that. They first found these primitive mamals in a simple rocky city between two large rivers, their technology being on par with what the Annunaki had almost seven thousand years earlier.

At first the Humans were nothing special, just another species they would probably share this plane with until they could reclaim their own. But then they found these Humans had a natural ability to manipulate energy and even solid matter. This ability existed thanks to the constantly changing state of their plane. It was always changing energy frequencies, if not just slightly, thus making the human inhabitants extremely sensitive to the energy around them.

When they discovered this, the Annunaki knew this could be better than simply escaping into the fourth plane. If the Annunaki could help the Humans develop and enhance these abilities, they could be used as a weapon against the Ven, a weapon they believed could stop the virus for good.

Once first contact was established, the primitive Humans began to worship them as gods, believing that their technology were tools of the divine. It was because they worshipped them in this way that taking ten thousand of the mammals and bringing them back to the fifth plane didn't prove difficult. Over the course of the next two years, the Annunaki studied and helped the Humans developed their abilities. The Humans learned to create plasma from the air around them, to manipulate electricity and the charged particles in their bodies, to control matter of all forms, even to fill another being with energy, allowing them to heal at a faster rate.

The Humans, who didn't understand the science behind their abilities, called them chi abilities. To them, Chi was a life energy which bound all living things together. Through whatever beliefs they held, they believed that through the gods, they were harnessing this energy, which was sort of half true. But while many Humans still worshipped them like gods, the rigorous training and the fallacies the Annunaki would accidentally demonstrate from time to time made others more skeptical.

When the Humans were finally ready, the Annunaki split them into contingents of two thousand soldiers each. Each contingent of Humans was probably the equivalent of ten thousand Annunaki warriors, and when the Humans began to do battle with the Ven, it seemed like victory was assured for his people.

The Humans were the ultimate force, embracing their corrupt side during battle and letting their pure side show in the presence of the Annunaki. Their abilities were unstopable, manipulating any and all forms of matter and energy in order to overpower their Ven foes, and for a while, it worked without issue. They were perfect tools of war.

When the war reached its twentieth year, much of the planet had been reclaimed by the Humans. Oddly enough, it seemed like the portal the Ven had used had dissapeared. As if it had been cut off and couldn't connect the fifth plane to the second anymore. Around this time, the Annunaki portal to the fourth plane was becoming weak. The energy requirements to keep the portal open was too much, and keeping it open for the past five years was clearly taking its toll. The scientists were forced to shut it down, to avoid a hypothetical explosion capable of wiping out both fourth and fifth planes.

That was when the Ven made their big comeback. It turned out that the portal between the fifth and fourth planes acted as a sort of shield, blocking any other portals trying to enter the fifth plane. The Annunaki were unsure why their portal overpowered that of the Ven, but they thought it might have something to do with the uneasy state of the fourth plane, somehow creating a nullifying field which shut down any other inter-planar portals.

The shutdown of the portal to the fourth plane brought about a massive return of the Ven. Their own portal reactivated and thousands of the creatures poured through. The Humans were powerful, but the vast numbers of the Ven were staggering. In addition, these new Ven were more cunning, and more adaptive. Their bodies became resilient to many of the Humans' abilities, resulting in the human forces being cut in half over the course of the next five years.

The Ven retook everything the Annunaki and the Humans had once reclaimed, and in the process, began destroying every environment they came across. Before, the Ven merely occupied a location, but now it was like they were out to exterminate everything.

At this point, the humans no longer viewed the Annunaki as gods. After years of having their two species fighting side by side, the humans began to realize the Annunaki weren't very different from them. This resulted in unforeseen events. Some of the humans became curious and extremely skeptial about the Annunaki and the reasons behind being brought to the fifth plane, and the Annunaki knew if they lied, the humans wouldn't take lightly to it. The original reason the Annunaki gave them was they would become servants of the gods, and fight the forces of darkness. But the humans now knew that wast the truth.

The Annunaki then told the humans everything. From initial contact with the Ven, to the threat of their survival. From the discovery of the fourth plane and the humans, to the training of the humans as weapons of war. They told them everything.

Despite this new understanding, the Humans still felt distrust towards the Annunaki, and as such, demanded to return to the fourth plane. The Annunaki knew it would be more than possible to reopen a portal to the fourth plane, but it would also be very risky. There was a chance the old gateway would open and become unstable again, possibly resulting in a multi-plane destroying explosion.

But the Annunaki knew that was a risk worth taking, because they had come up with another plan. At this point in the war, most of the planet was back under Ven control and the Annunaki population was dwindling. The Humans had lost many and were only a few thousand strong. The only thing they could do now was send the Humans back home where they would grow in numbers and have the strength to one day beat back the Ven.

It was a risky plan, having the Humans be completely indipendant, free of Annunaki influence and leaving them vulnerable to a possible Ven assault on their own plane. But it had to be done. The Annunaki couldn't be their gods forever.

Thirty years to the day the war first began, and several days before the portal went back online, the Ven launched a massive assault on the last surviving city of Mesomapit, a thirty kilometer wide city surounded by a two hundred meter high wall of solid stone. The Ven cut through the rock as if it were butter, pouring into the city in the thousands.

What Annunaki and Humans remained faced the Ven head on as they poured into the city. For a few days, they were able to keep them at bay. But it was becoming evident that the Ven were going to break through soon. Realizing this fast approaching defeat, the high council ordered the immediate activation of the portal, in order to send the Humans back home and ensure there was at least one last hope that the Ven wouldn't completely win this war.

Unfortunately, the portal wasn't receiving enough power to activate. It turned out that the four power cores giving energy to the portal were scattered across the city, and one was under Ven control. Without this fourth core online, the portal wouldn't open.

That was why Voss and his team were trudging through Mesomapit's sewers. They were tasked with getting the last power core online, and making sure the Humans returned home.

"We almost there?" Kil asked Salem.

Salem nodded, "there's a bend up ahead. We turn down there, go along a few hundred meters then we should be right in front of the building."

"Any Ven?" Bliz asked.

"Hundreds by the feel of them," the human said softly.

"Everyone stop." Voss ordered, his muddied boots stopping in a puddle of thick, brown sludge.

"You got a plan brother?" Jacen wondered.

"Maybe" he said with a nod, "if we got hundreds of Ven up there, then there's no way we'll be able to take them on our own. We need some sort of leverage against them."

"Think we can call air support?" Karen proposed.

"Can't," said Bliz, "All our ships are busy on the front lines. If we call those fly boys away now, the Ven we be all over HQ in a matter of hours."

"Then we need a distraction." Voss said, an awkward silence stretching across his team. They all knew that if they wated to create a distraction, one or more members would be pretty much sacraficing themselves. Only question was: who?

"You should take the Humans," Jacen said at last, "Bliz, Kil and I can provide a distraction long enough for you to get inside and start up the power core."

Karen shook her head, "no, you need us to provide the distraction. If you don't have us there the Ven will kill you before you can get away, you won't last five minutes."

Jacen sighed, "its your choice Voss."

He might have been leading this team, but for the first time in five years, Voss found himself wishing he wasn't. One way or another he was going to be asking his team to lay their lives on the line. But he assumed they knew that. From the beginning they could assume this was a suicide mission. But at least they'd die doing what they could to save millions, if not billions of other living beings.

"Jacen's right," Voss said, regret lingering at the back of his voice, "Jacen, Kil and Bliz will provide a distraction while we try to get into the building from the back."

"Voss there's actually a place where the sewers come up under the building," said Karen, "it'll make our jobs all the easier if come up right under them."

Voss nodded, "Alright. Here's how this will work. You three will head down this tunnel and come up in front of the building. On my mark you will blast those freaks with everything you got. Ten seconds later, myself, Salem and Karen will come up inside the building and deactivate the power core. When that's done, Jacen, I want you and your group back in the sewers. Get back to HQ and see to it the Humans get out okay."

Jacen nodded, knowing that last order would probably never be followed. "Yes sir."

"Let's get this done." Voss said, his voice rumbling from a combination of fear and andrenaline. He didnt let anyone say goodbye. There was no place for that kind of sentiment here. They couldn't give in to weakness. Not now. Not when everything came down to them to doing the hard thing.

"Hey bug face," Salem said to Bliz before he could walk away, "good luck."

Bliz laughed under his breath, "you too."

Without another word, the team split up. Salem, Karen and Voss continuing down the main tunnel, while Bliz, Kil and Jacen went down the side tunnel. They were silent as they walked, but Voss soon got to a point where it was getting on his nerves, and couldn't help but making small talk with the Humans.

"Karen, what is the fourth plane like?"

Karen smiled sadly, "It's beautiful world. Bright blue skies. Tall, green trees. Clear, blue water that begs to be swam in. It's a great world."

"Shame we aren't going back though." Salem said somberly.

"You don't know that." Voss lied.

Salem winked at his superior, "Sir, with all due respect, we knew you were taking us into hell when you told us about the mission. We know we're probably going to die from this, but if it means the fourth plane has a chance against the Ven? He'll, I'd take this mission over going back any day."

"Wow Salem," said an impressed Karen, "that's probably the least obnoxious thing I've heard out of you all month."

"Was it enough to earn that kiss?" Salem wondered, his eyebrows raised in question.

Karen laughed, "in your dreams."

Salem, with his glowing ball of plasma, led them to another side tunnel, this one being twice as small as the one they were currently in. Voss climed inside, following Salem's bright plasma. He found himself forced to crawl on his hands and knees and his hard exoskeleton kept scratching on the walls and cieling around him. The Humans were able to crouch, and he found himself thinking that this was one advantage a human body had over his own.

Finally, Salem stopped under a small water drain, a thin, warm ray of light coming through the slits and illuminating the human's rugged face.

"This is it." Salem said softly.

"Jacen," Voss barked into his communicator, "are you in position?"

"Just about. How about you?"

"We're under the building. If we do this quick we should have the core up and running in a few minutes. Can you keep them off us for that long?"

His brother laughed, "We'll have to. There's no room for mistake on this mission right?"

Voss nodded, more to himself than anyone, "Good luck brother."

"You too."

"Alright" Voss said loudly, his eye on a wrist watch, "Distraction is a go in four...three...two...one!"

A muffled thump and a slight shake of the ground notified them that the distraction had begun. Seemed Kil finally had a chance to use those explosives after all.

Voss counted up to ten in his head, then gave the Humans a hand signal to proceed. Karen and Salem raised their hands, and like before, filled the earth around them with chi energy. Long, jagged cracks began to appear in the solid stone of the sewer and Voss watched in awe as the Humans ripped the ground apart, throwing all the debris up and into the interior of the power core facility.

With assistance from the Humans, Voss, Karen and Salem crawled out of the hole. Voss pulled out his twin moon blades just as a four foot tall Ven scout came crawling out of the debris. It turned its head toward Voss and smiled gleefully, a look of sadistic pleasure in its black eyes.

Voss threw one blade, sending it plunging into the face of the scout. The creature screeched loudly as the blade sent it tumbling to the ground. With tiny, clawed hands, it tried to pull the blade from its disfigured face, but not before Voss stepped up and cut it in half.

"Karen, where's the core?" Voss asked as he retrieved his missing moon blade.

"Just down the hall, but we-"

Three Ven leapt in front of Karen, cutting her off mid sentence. They seemed to come out of nowhere, their bladded arms swinging at her vulnerable head. She leapt backwards, narowly avoiding the sharp arms of the Ven, and fired several balls of plasma into their grey bodies.

The plasma hit them like a brick wall, sending them reeling backwards and tumbling to the ground. This gave Salem and Voss the opportunity to jump in, abilities and blades aiming to kill.

With Salem and Karen holding the creatures down, Voss moved in quick and delivered a series of devastating blows, his moon blades cutting cleanly through their slimy flesh.

He glanced up from his kills and finally spotted his target. The power core was massive, atleast two stories tall, solid black with a small computer terminal on the left side. But what really drew his attention was what was in front of it. Dozens upon dozens of Ven. Each staring at Voss with souless, black eyes. They filled up the hallway before them like a sea of brown gunk, their bodies rippling in anticipation as they took in the sight of Voss and his team.

"Crap" Salem said, walking up beside Voss, electricty crackling between his fingers.

"I have a plan" said Karen, "We can zap them and give you some time to get to the core."

"Wont that leave you drained?" Voss wondered.

Karen didnt get a chance to reply, for the Ven had waited long enough and were charging towards them, roars and gurgles echoing around the hallway.

"Salem!" Karen yelled, "Now!"

The two human threw their hands forward and together, generated a powerful stream of electricty. Hundreds of bolts of blue and purple arched from their hands, cracking and ionizing the air around them. The Ven convulsed as the electricty hit them, stopping them mid of the smaller ones fried in seconds, but many of the larger ones were more resilient towards this assault.

Voss ran forward, not wasting any time. He made his way along the far edge, taking care to avoid the Ven and the humans' deadly electricty. It took him just under a minute to navigate his way to the power core's terminal. The humans were keeping up a steady stream of electricity, but he knew they couldn't keep this up forever.

He typed in a series of commands and he felt more than heard the power core coming to life before him. The rummbling and soft hum was like music to his ears. They did it. The humans could go home.

He turned back and found the Salem and Karen making their way through the crowd of imobile Ven, both keeping up a steady stream of electricty to keep the creatures at bay. They made their way to where he was standing and he could see they were exhausted, their faces and drenched with sweat.

"Can't keep doing this much longer," Salem moaned through clenched teeth.

"Get out," Voss said over the crackles of electricty, "I can hold them off, you have your own world to get back to."

Karen let loose a strained laugh,"With all do respect sir, screw it. If we leave now, and you die, the Ven can just turn this thing off. The other humans won't have enough time to get back. We're staying."

"Definetly," Salem gasped.

They kept the electricty going, but after a few more seconds Salem began to falter. He let his hand fall and the electricty stopped flowing. He was spent.

"Give it a rest Karen" Voss said softly in her ear.

With huff, she too dropped her hand, and the three of them together watched as the Ven regained their footing. They were going to charge again, and by the look of it, Voss and the others werent going to survive this one.

"Come here you idiot" Karen said in a rush.

Voss looked at the two humans and saw them pressing their lips into one another, a look of surprise on Salem's face. Seems Karen couldn't resist Salem after all.

The Ven ran at them like dogs going after a big juicy steak, the ones at the back crawling over top the ones in front so they would be the first to reach Voss, Karen and Salem.

Karen and Salem pulled themselves apart and stood up. They took positions on either side of Voss and readied themselves. This was it. The humans were going home, and as long as Voss and the humans stood their ground, there would be hope for humanity, and hope for the rest of the Astral Planes.


End file.
